Wedding Bell Blues
by LanieSullivan
Summary: What if Lee hadn't used a fake name during the "Ship of Spies" wedding, making their marriage legal and he and Amanda had been forced to spend the night together in a honeymoon suite before their return to DC? Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is an idea that has been rattling around in my brain for about ten years now, ever since I purchased the original script for "Ship of Spies" on eBay and saw that in the wedding ceremony, the minister used Lee's real name, not the fake one used in the actual episode. That led to the idea of the marriage being legally binding, then that led to the idea of an annulment being out of the question if the marriage had been consummated. After the kiss they shared during the ceremony and the longing way they both looked at each other afterward, I didn't think it was a huge stretch to think that it could happen even that early in their partnership with a little creativity, so here goes. I hope you like what I've come up with to get them there. Of course, those of you who know my writing know that I have a sick and twisted, some would even say, evil mind.

Note: For the purposes of this story, I am going with the original script, not the filmed episode and I'm adding a little creative license in modifying it slightly to have been a double-ring ceremony. It starts between the showdown on the beach and their return home from San Angelo.

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**Wedding Bell Blues-**Chapter One

Lee and Amanda entered the lavish hotel room in San Angelo, both staunchly avoiding making eye contact with one another.

Amanda fidgeted nervously as she surveyed the room, chilled champagne in an ice bucket on the table, a roaring fire in the fireplace, candles, rose petals on the bed. She licked her lips nervously, averting her eyes from the bed before Lee caught where her gaze had gone. "So...uh...you said our flight back home leaves at one O'clock tomorrow?" she said.

"Uh...yeah, one O'clock," Lee said hoarsely as he swallowed hard, having also taken in every detail of the room that they were to spend the night in...together...alone. He recalled vividly the kiss they'd shared earlier in the day after reciting their vows in front of the disinterested-looking minister. The way Amanda's lips felt beneath his, the way she'd kissed him back, the jolt it had sent through his whole body had left him feeling anything _but_ disinterested. The room set up this way was only making it worse. It was the perfect seduction setup. Of course, they were supposed to be newlyweds, which technically, they were. He glanced for a moment down at the shiny gold band on his hand and sighed.

Amanda caught this small gesture from Lee and gazed down at her own left hand adorned with the diamond engagement ring he placed on her finger a few days ago, nestled alongside the plain, but elegant gold band. She fumbled nervously with them and said, "So, this is a nice room," not sure what else to say. Her eyes couldn't help but glance back to the bed and desperately wondered what Lee was thinking about this whole thing, knowing that he'd noticed it too. She wondered how they were going to get through the night. She knew that they were married so it technically wouldn't be wrong for them to share a bed, but she couldn't help being nervous, especially after the way his kiss at the ceremony had made her feel. The way that his gaze had lingered on her after it was over, the way he seemed reluctant to let it go at those two soft kisses, the way that he'd kissed the tips of her fingers when she'd reached to wipe her lipstick from his lips.

"Oh, yeah, nice," Lee concurred. He looked at her finally, took her hands in his to try to ease her nervousness. "Look, the room was booked for both of us as part of the cruise travel package since we're supposed to be married," he explained.

"Not supposed to be married, Lee," Amanda said. "This isn't like any other cover we've ever played. We _are _married now."

"I know," he said with a sigh as he released her hands and ran his hands through his hair. "But the case is over. Miles and Jillian have been handed over to the local authorities and we don't have to keep up our cover anymore. When we get back, we'll just have this thing annulled and that will be that."

"Is that what you want," Amanda questioned not quite ready to let him off the hook yet. She knew what she'd seen in his eyes after they kissed.

"Isn't that what _you _want?" he fired back.

"Well, like you said at the start of this case, you know how strongly I feel about marriage."

"Which is exactly why we should end this charade now," Lee said though as soon as the words left his mouth, he wondered if he meant them. The way they'd kissed, they way they'd both reacted to it meant that it wasn't entirely a charade. There were some feelings there; he just wasn't sure what it all really meant. He wasn't exactly the settling down type. "I mean, you don't wanna' be married to a guy like me, do you?"

"Right, and you don't want to be married to a woman like me," Amanda said hoping against hope that he'd argue with her. "I mean, I'm not exactly your type."

"This may have escaped your notice, Amanda, but I don't exactly have any one type. And it's not that I wouldn't want to be married to you specifically, I just never wanted to be married to _anyone_."

"You know what? We should discuss this when we get back to DC. Right now, I just wanna' get in the shower and wash all the sand and dust off me." She brushed her hands over the frilly wedding gown she wore; brushing off imaginary sand, but it was more to have something to do with her hands, other than fumble nervously with the wedding set on her left hand.

"Right," Lee nodded. "You know something, while you're doing that, I think I'll take a trip down to the front desk and see if I can't scrounge us up another room."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," Amanda said trying to sound upbeat but inwardly disappointed. If the kisses they'd shared were any indication, if they were to actually act on the fact that they were now newlyweds, she had no doubt that she'd be in for an incredible night.

"Good, I'll do that then," Lee said disheartened that she'd agreed with him and so quickly.

'Ok, Well, I'm just gonna' go..."She gestured toward the bathroom door.

"Yeah, and I'll..." he gestured toward the door leading into the hallway.

"Right," Amanda said with a nod.

"Right," Lee said nodding back.

They both stood staring at each other for another beat then went their separate ways.

Amanda stepped into the bathroom and turned on the water in the tub to let it get warm while she undressed. She glanced at herself in the mirror as she unpinned the veil from her hair and laid it aside. She glanced down again at the rings on her finger and started to take them off since Lee had made it clear that he had no desire to stay married to her, but then she thought better of it. _No, we're still married for now_, she thought.

She quickly undressed and stepped into the shower, letting the hot water beat against her back as her thoughts whirled. In all the time she'd thought about what it would be like to get married again, she'd never imagined this scenario, married to a man who didn't want to be married just to maintain their cover. Despite what he said with his mouth though, his eyes told the real story. Though he may not want to be married to her, he most definitely wanted her. That much had been obvious. She may not have taken as many trips around the block as he had, but she'd been around enough to recognize when a man wanted her.

As she lathered up and began to wash the grime from her body, her thoughts began to drift and she couldn't help wondering what it would be like if Lee would ever acknowledge that he wanted her as much as she wanted him, if it were his hands on her, touching her.

"Damn!' Lee swore as he re-entered the room. He'd had no luck getting another room. They were all booked because of the scores of newlyweds from the cruise. He paced nervously around the room and tried to get a handle on his nerves. His pacing took him past the bathroom door where he heard the shower running. He pulse quickened as he thought of Amanda just on the other side of it and imagined her wet and naked. _Stop it, Stetson_, he thought. He was still trying to force his mind to focus on something else when he heard the soft moaning coming from the bathroom. Was she crying? He knew he'd hurt her feelings when he said they should end this charade, but he didn't think it was that bad. I mean, it's not as if the wedding had been for real. They weren't in love, were they? _Who are you kidding, Stetson, _he chided himself. _You know you're crazy about her and have been for a long damn time._ He decided he should apologize for the abrupt way he'd talked about ending it and explain what he really meant.

"Amanda," ha called as he softly tapped on the door. When he received no answer, he turned the knob averting his eyes from what he might see on the other side of the door and was going to call her name again when her voice stopped him.

"Lee," she moaned.

His head abruptly turned at the sound and gasped at what he saw. Through the glass shower doors, he saw her bare form outlined in front of him. Not only that, Amanda was touching herself and it was clear the way she'd spoken his name that she was thinking about him while doing it. He felt a wave of desire flood through him and couldn't help but wonder what she'd do if he decided to join her in the shower and make her fantasy a reality. He shook his head and quickly closed the door. No, she'd most likely just scream and throw him out, and then things would be awkward between them. "It's just a harmless fantasy," he said aloud to convince himself. After all, he'd had fantasies about her. It was only natural when you spent as much time together as they did. _But that was before she was your wife, _he reminded himself.

He crossed the room to where their bags were neatly piled in the corner, having been brought from the ship trying to get as far away from the bathroom as possible and not think about what Amanda was doing in there Was she thinking about him because she was crazy about him too? He tried to distract himself by picking up his suitcase, then thought better of it and put in back down. There was no point in unpacking when they were just going to be leaving tomorrow. He closed his eyes, sighed and decided consequences be damned, he had to find out the truth. He marched resolutely across the room to the bathroom, and had just reached for the knob again when Amanda came through the door wearing one of the hotel's bathrobes and carrying her wedding attire.

"Oh, I was just about to knock and see how close you were to being done," Lee covered quickly. "I got all dusty too."

"All yours," she said. "So, no luck?"

"Luck?" he said swallowing hard. Had she guessed his true intention had been to join her in the shower?

"In getting another room?"

"Oh, no, all booked up. I guess we're stuck with each other tonight," he said trying to make a joke of it. "I'm just gonna'..." He gestured backward toward the bathroom door trying not to think about the fact that he'd just heard her crying out his name while pleasuring herself, trying not to think about what might have happened if he'd walked into that bathroom a few minutes earlier, what it would be like if he'd been the one giving her that pleasure. He quickly walked into the bathroom, closed the door firmly behind him. As he unbuttoned his shirt, he imagined Amanda hands undressing him. What would she do? Would she do it slowly, one button at a time, pausing the kiss the skin beneath each button, or would should be impatient and tug at his shirt letting buttons pop off and fly in all directions before touching him? These thoughts plagued him all through his shower.


	2. Chapter 2

Amanda fidgeted nervously while Lee was in the shower. Looking for something to do, she walked to the closet, pulled out a hanger and neatly hung her wedding dress on it, draping the flowery veil over its hook. She held it at arm's length and gazed at it for a moment a little sadly. No, this was definitely not how she had thought about getting married again. She crossed the room to where their suitcases were stacked up. _No, _she thought just before she picked up her suitcase. She didn't want to take the chance that she'd be halfway through getting dressed when Lee got out of the shower. Although, maybe seeing her in a partial state of undress would make him wake up and admit that he at least felt something for her. _Stop it, Amanda, _she scolded herself at those thoughts. As she tried to get her mind off her hunger for her new husband, her stomach growled loudly reminding her that she had another hunger to take care of. She walked to the desk and picked up the room service menu, perusing the selections deciding she'd order dinner for them. After all, it had been a while since either of them had eaten. He'd probably be hungry too. That thought made her thoughts turn back to the other hunger again, wondering why he was so reluctant to admit that he was just as hungry for her as she was for him. She shook her head as if to shake off that thought and picked up the phone.

Lee scrubbed himself furiously wishing that he could scrub away the memories of what he'd just witnessed in this room. Just minutes ago his wife had been in here right where he was standing, one hand between her legs, the other on her breast, touching herself with wild abandon and clearly thinking about him while doing it. What thoughts had gone through her mind, he wondered. Was she imagining that he was the one touching her, or had her fantasy gone further than that? Did she imagine that he'd been in the shower with her, kissing her, holding her, making love to her? Did she fanaticize about how he'd feel inside her, how they would move together? Was she thinking about the fact that this was technically their honeymoon and that under normal circumstances they should be spending the rest of the night locked in each other's arms, whispering words of love and desire as they sated each other? Without even realizing it at first he'd found his hand had drifted south to the now almost-painful erection that his disturbing vision of her had caused. _What the hell_," he thought. _If she can do it, so can I. What's a little harmless fantasy? _Besides_, _he reasoned with himself, getting his rocks off might help relieve the tension that he knew there would be when he went back into the room they were to share for the night.

After placing the room service order, Amanda continued to wander aimlessly around the room. She decided since food was on the way, she'd occupy her time by getting the dinner table ready. She walked toward it, plucked the champagne bottle from the ice bucket and began to peel the foil from the top of it. It was then that her eyes fell upon the gift basket sitting next to it and noticed that it wasn't your normal fruit basket. Instead it was more like...well, there was no other word for it...it was a goody basket. Inside it was an assortment of condoms, lubricants and lotions, a pair of fur-covered handcuffs, a blindfold... Amanda began to get warm at reviewing the items in the basket, in spite of the chill on the champagne bottle in her hands as she imagined what she and Lee could do with these things. The release she'd given herself in the shower now a distant memory as her mind flooded with images of the two of them together, taking pleasure in one another the way a newly married couple should on their wedding night. Her thoughts then drifted to Lee in the shower as she pictured his wet, naked body and imagined the water from the shower running down his firm, well-muscled chest that she'd glimpsed on occasion while they'd been on assignment and then pictured the water cascading even lower. _Stop it, Amanda, _she chided herself again. She averted her eyes from the basket and tried to focus all her energy on the bottle in her hands. She could really use a drink right about now. She knew those thoughts would only serve to make her more frustrated. Even though she knew Lee desired her, she also knew he'd never own up to it. Of course, she couldn't really judge him for that, not when she was guilty of the same thing. She wanted him so badly she could taste it, but to say so would open a can of worms she knew shouldn't be opened. When she finally got the foil off the bottle, she found she couldn't keep her eyes off the basket.

Lee buried his face in the washcloth hanging on the rack within the shower, hoping to muffle the sounds of his groans as his release hit him full force leaving him trembling, his legs weak, gripping the bar for support until the shaking subsided. "God," he said aloud once he could breathe normally again. If fantasizing about making love to Amanda could bring on a climax that strong, he could only imagine what _actually_ making love to her to be like. He shook off the nagging thoughts as he knew it wouldn't do him any good. In spite of the fact that they were married now, at least on paper, Amanda would never let her guard down enough to allow him that close to her, no matter how much she might want to. He turned off the water, yanked the door open forcefully, reached for a towel and began to dry himself off sighing in frustration as he did so. Why was even worried about it? Like he'd told her, he didn't want to be married, not just to her, but to anyone and he sure as hell wasn't ready to take on the responsibility of someone else's kids. Although, he had to admit, from what he'd seen, her kids were pretty great. He supposed that had a lot to do with the fact that she was a pretty great mom. In his lurking around her house, he'd observed her with them many times and seen the interactions between them. She always did everything she could to make sure that they were well taken care of and that they knew they were loved. If a time ever came that he decided to settle down and have kids of his own, she'd be exactly the kind of mother he'd want for them. _Whoa, Stetson, where did that thought come from? _He tried to shake off the thought, but it wouldn't go away. Now that he'd seen Amanda naked, he wondered what she'd looked like when she'd been pregnant. That thought led to the idea of imagining what her incredibly sexy body would look like swollen with his own child. He closed his eyes and willed that image to go away. When it finally did, he finished drying off, tossed the towel aside, yanked the hotel robe from its hook on the back of the door, slipped into it and belted in tightly around his waist. As he exited the bathroom, he was startled by what he saw. Amanda was still dressed only in her own hotel robe and staring intently at the gift basket on the table. He crept softly up behind her. When he glanced at the contents of the basket, he found he couldn't resist teasing her. "See something that interests you," he said in a low husky voice in her ear.

"Don't do that!"She said slapping at his shoulder. "You know I hate it when you sneak up on me like that."

He laughed heartily and grinned at her. "So, do you?" he said with a glance at the basket hoping to get a rise out of her.

"No," she said quickly as she averted her eyes from his and once again tried to return her focus to the champagne bottle, but found her shaking hands unable to make much progress. "I was, just...just thinking...thinking that it's not your typical hotel gift basket," she stammered nervously, mortified by the fact that he'd caught her staring at the basket.

Lee noticed her struggling with the champagne bottle. "Here, let me," he said taking the bottle from her hands. He quickly completed the task and poured them each a glass, handing her one before placing the bottle back in the ice bucket.

Amanda took the glass from him and said, "Thank you." She took a deep breath, turned back to face him and asked, "So, what should we drink to?"

"How about to the closing of this case," Lee said.

"To closing the case," Amanda said with a firm nod clinking her glass with his before taking a sip of the bubbly liquid. "I...um...I ordered us some room service," she said. "I don't know about you, but the events of this afternoon made me work up quite an appetite."

"Great, I'm starving," He said.

"You like your steaks medium-rare, right?"

"Yeah, I do," he answered with a warm smile, touched by her thoughtfulness. That was Amanda King, always thinking of what other people needed.

"That's actually what got me looking at this basket," she said. "Since our dinner should be here anytime, I thought I'd get the table set up. I just got distracted when...when I..."

"Saw what was in it?" He completed for her with an impish grin.

"Uh...yeah," she said as she blushed furiously very grateful that he couldn't tell what she'd been thinking when viewing the basket's contents.

"Here, let's just remove the distraction then," He said as he picked up the basket and set it on the nightstand beside the bed. _Uh-oh, bad move, _he thought as it only served to draw attention to the location those items would normally be used and they still hadn't discussed what they were going to do about the sleeping arrangements for the night. He swallowed hard as his attention was once again drawn to the rose-petal covered bed and found himself imagining what they could do with those rose petals. Normally, the smell of roses repulsed him after what happened to Dorothy, but when mixed with the intoxicating scent that was unique to Amanda King, he imagined he would feel anything but. He felt as if the scent was working on him like an aphrodisiac.

Amanda couldn't help but notice his gaze lingering on the bed and felt the need to pay him back for embarrassing her. "See something that interests you?" she quipped throwing his own words back in his face.

Lee whipped around to face her, tearing his eyes from the bed, but found looking at her with the teasing smirk on her face made it even worse. He cleared his throat loudly and said, "um...no...I...Uh...was...just...uh...thinking...we...we haven't discussed...our..." he paused, shook his head to clear the erotic images that had formed in his mind and said more forcefully, "...our sleeping arrangements for the night." He tore his gaze from hers and looked around the room gesturing to the loveseat in the living area of their suite. "The couch in here is too short for either of us to be comfortable on so..."

"So..."Amanda probed expectantly, the amused grin at his obvious discomfort never leaving her face. _Good, _she thought. _I'm glad he's as nervous about this as I am._

"So, we need to figure out what we're going to do," he said in irritation. _Doesn't she get that this is an awkward situation, _he thought. This situation was different than any other they'd ever been in together. While they hadn't planned on it, they were married now and this was their wedding night and they were going to be forced to spend it together whether they liked it or not.

"I couldn't agree more," she said. "If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears."

"Damn it, Amanda King, You are the most maddening, infuriating, obstinate woman I have ever met in my whole damn life!" he bellowed as he approached her, his face coming within scant inches of hers. "Why can't you just give me a straight answer to my question for once?"

"I don't remember hearing you _ask_ a question," she fired back hotly. "All you said was that we needed to figure out what we were going to do and you're right, _we_ do!" she added pointing her finger first at herself then at him, jabbing her finger into his chest.

Lee abruptly grabbed her hand to stop her wild gesturing. It was then that he noticed that she was still wearing the wedding set he'd put on her finger. He glanced the shiny gold band and sparkling diamond, then at his own left hand and realized he hadn't taken his off either, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out why he hadn't and furthermore why _she_ hadn't. It's not as if theirs was a real marriage. Was it? Was she thinking that they maybe had a shot at making it work, at making it a real marriage? He gazed into her eyes looking for any kind of sign that she felt that way, then his gaze fell on her lips and he vividly recalled how soft they were, how yielding they'd been under his when they'd kissed during their wedding ceremony. He was close enough to kiss her again and it hit him hard how much he wanted to do just that. He swallowed hard and said in a softer tone, "Well, what do _you _suggest?"

Amanda's breath caught in her throat at the way he was looking at her, the fire of anger that had been in his eyes was now replaced by a different kind of fire. The angry tone in his voice replaced by a low, sexy one. The way he'd relaxed his grip on her hand and was now caressing her ring finger with his thumb was sending shivers up her spine. She wondered if he even realized he was doing it. His nearness was making her warm all over again. It wouldn't take much for her to close the gap between them. All she'd have to do was place her free hand on his face to reel him in for another kiss like the one they'd shared earlier. She found herself unconsciously doing just that, her breath quickening as he leaned in, accepting her invitation for what it was. She closed her eyes and parted her lips in anticipation. His lips had barely brushed hers when there was a knock on the door. They abruptly broke apart both startled by the intrusion as if they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't. "Our dinner," she said as she hurriedly made her way to the door inwardly screaming in disappointment at the bad timing of the delivery. _No, _she argued with herself. _Maybe this is fate's way of intervening before things get out of hand._

"Damn!," Lee muttered under his breath as he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. _So close, _he thought. He sighed then thought, _No, it's better this way. This was perfect timing to keep things from going too far. _


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: I want to say thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed this story and to those who are following it and haven't reviewed. It's nice to know that my efforts are appreciated. I want to also include a smut warning for this chapter. Many of you who have been following my writing for a while know how twisted my dirty mind, but this is by far the dirtiest thing I have ever written, so this chapter is not for those who object to the smuttier stuff. Just felt the need to give fair warning. Hope you all enjoy! As always, reviews are appreciated.

Lanie

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Lee and Amanda spent their dinner chatting amiably about the case they had just wrapped up both trying to keep the conversation from anything but their near-kiss. Their empty dinner dishes were now neatly stacked on the table and Amanda was sitting on the loveseat while Lee was refilling their glasses.

Lee finished his task and handed her glass to her. "That's the last of it," he said as he sat beside her and turned to face her.

"Thank you," she said as she took a sip of it suddenly feeling nervous again at him being so close to her. During dinner when they were talking about the case and not their new marriage or the sleeping arrangements for the night, the tension had eased a little. Of course, it had also helped that the table had been between them.

"So, I have to say I was impressed with how you got the best of Jillian with that pipe." Lee then laughed and said, "Poor woman had no idea that you didn't have a gun."

Amanda laughed too and said, "Weill, I was just trying to improvise with what I had on hand."

"As only you can," he said with a warm smile. "You did great though."

"Thank you," she said smiling back at him.

_God, she's got a great smile, _Lee thought, _the way her warm brown eyes light up,_ t_he way her lips curve just right._ The thought of her lips made him think about kissing her again. He knew he should stop looking at her the way that he was but he couldn't tear his eyes away. _What the hell,_ he thought._ What's the worst that could happen? _He set his glass down on the coffee table, took her hand in his and said, "Amanda, I..."

"You...?"Amanda questioned anxiously thinking that she knew what he wanted to say, but waning to hear it from him. She blushed slightly at the intensity of his gaze, squeezed his hand gently and smiled at him to encourage him to continue.

"Aw, damn it," he said and without another word, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. It wasn't an intense kiss, just a feather-light brushing of his lips on hers before he pulled back and looked deep into her eyes again.

Amanda gazed fervently back at him, smiling as she saw the questioning in his eyes as if silently asking for permission to continue. Her heart swelled at that thoughtful gesture and she silently answered by setting her own glass down and lifting her hand to his face and softly caressing it as she leaned toward him.

Lee didn't hesitate another second in capturing her lips with his own, this time not the tender kiss like the first one had been. This one was hot and fierce, his tongue brushing against her lips demanding entrance which she willing gave as she slid her hand up to tug on the back of his neck, deepening their kiss further as she moaned into his mouth. Amanda slid one leg across his lap in an attempt to bring him closer. Lee took full advantage of it as he slid his hand up her thigh under her robe to her hip and pushed her slightly back against the arm of the loveseat as he continued to plunder her mouth.

That movement brought a sharp cry from Amanda. Lee pulled back, startled and said, "I'm sorry. I went too far. I just thought..."

"No, Lee," she said soothingly, hoping the moment hadn't been ruined. "You didn't go too far. I was actually enjoying it. It's just...I had a muscle spasm or something. Probably from jumping out of the car."

"Are you ok?"He asked in concern. "Where does it hurt?"

"It's ok. It's gone now," she lied as she twirled her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck hoping to rekindle the fire that had started between them just moments ago.

"Well, where _did _it hurt?"Lee said unwilling to let it go. He couldn't stand the thought of her being in pain, especially since he was the one who'd dragged her into this case to begin with. If he hadn't she'd never have had to jump out of a speeding car in the first place.

"Right here," Amanda said turning slightly to indicate a spot on her upper back just below her shoulder blade.

"Turn around all the way," Lee said. When she did so, he reached for the spot she'd shown him and attempted to massage is. She winced slightly. "Still sore?"

"A little," she said.

"This isn't going to work. The material of this robe is just too thick," He said in frustration. "I can't do much good this way." He dropped his hands to his lap.

"Do you want me to take it off?" she said in a sultry tone as she peered over her shoulder at him.

_God, yes, _he thought, but instead said, "Why don't you lie down on the bed and I'll see if I can't work on your sore muscles better that way."

"Yeah, that might work better," Amanda said a little disappointed as she rose and made her way toward the bed, but she thought at lest they were moving toward the bed. That might get things moving back in the direction they had been before her stupid muscle spasm had interfered.

Amanda lay down her stomach while Lee sat beside her and tried again to get to her tender muscles, but the thick, fluffy robe was still hindering his progress. He tugged at the collar of the robe and attempted to slide his hand inside to get to the right spot, but the way she was lying on it and how tightly she had it tied made that awkward too. "Lee, stop," Amanda said as she rolled over onto her side and un-cinched her robe. Lee's breath stopped for a moment as she dropped the fluffy robe to the floor. It was one thing to have seen her body outlined through the steamed glass of the shower door five feet away. It was quite another to see her fully exposed just inches away from him. She noticed his appreciate gaze and couldn't resist teasing him again. "See something that interests you," she said seductively.

Lee's mouth dropped open at what seemed to be a blatant invitation from Amanda King, wholesome, suburban mother of two. "Turn over," he choked out. "Let's get those sore muscles of your worked out." As Amanda lay back down, he turned to the basket on the nightstand. "Come to think of it, I think I saw some massage oil in here earlier," he said in an attempt to force himself to avert his eyes from her nakedness for a moment until he could get control of himself. He couldn't figure out what the hell was wrong with him. It's not as if he'd never seen a naked woman before. He'd seen several, in fact. _But this is Amanda, _he argued with himself. _You actually give a crap about her and she's your wife now._ The more he thought about how much he wanted her, about his fierce desire for her, about how she was his wife now, the more he realized that if he figured there wouldn't be anything wrong with it if they did make love. As long as they were both willing parties, where was the harm in it? He unwrapped the cellophane from the basket and dug through it until he found what he was looking for. He was soon rubbing the oil onto her back and marveling at how soft her skin was.

"Mmm." Amanda sighed at the warmth of Lee's hands on her skin as he rubbed the oil into it and kneaded her stiff muscles. "Feels good."

"Good," Lee said softly finding himself getting more aroused by the sounds she was making as he ran his hands over her bare body. He wondered if they were the same sounds that she would make during sex or if she'd be more vocal like she'd been in the shower. Would she call out his name again as she had when she'd been touching herself? He leaned further over her as he worked his hands up to her shoulders. It was then that his eyes fell upon the pulse point of her neck that was exposed to him by the way she had her head turned, her hair flung to one side. He couldn't help but wonder what that tender skin would taste like. He decided he had to find out. He leaned over further and placed a soft kiss to it, then paused to gauge her reaction.

"Don't stop," she said with a sultry smile at him as she turned onto her side to face him, tugged on the back of his head to bring him closer.

Lee closed the distance between them lying beside her as he kissed her again amazed by electrifying her kisses were. He'd never imagined that just kissing a woman could make him so excited. He was further excited to feel her scooting closer to her. He then lowered his lips to her neck as he felt her tugging at the cloth belt on his robe. "What are you doing," he gasped out in a passion-filled voice.

"You're overdressed," she said her voice raspy and equally passion-filled.

Lee swallowed hard, reached for her hand at his belt and said, "Hold on a second. We should talk about this."

"No, Lee, we talk too much. I'm tired of talking. We never say the right things to each other anyway. You can't try to tell me that you don't want this, want me," she said as pulled her hand from his grasp, slipped her hand inside his robe slid her hand along his obvious erection.

"Yes,' he growled at her touch. "Yes, I want you, but we should talk first...at least about...being careful...taking precautions."

"Lee, there's a whole basket full of condoms right there," she said with a nod of her head toward the nightstand.

"So, you're not..."

"No," she said answering before he finished the question. "Not since before my divorce. We'll need the condoms."

"Good to know," he said.

"Now that that's out of the way, I believe I was in the middle of something before you stopped me," she said as she finished the task of untying his robe opening it's folds to take in his whole body as he shrugged the robe off his shoulders and pushed it off of the bed and onto the floor. Amanda ran her hands up his chest thumbing his nipples as he leaned toward her to capture her lips with his again rolling her onto her back as he did so running his hands down her sides to her hips relishing the feeling of having her beneath him.

He raised his head to look into her eyes again and said, "Oh, Amanda, you're so beautiful." He then lowered his lips to her neck and began suckling the tender pulse point that had been driving him crazy. The scent of her combined with the scent of the rose petals and her hands roaming down his back to grasp his bottom making him equally crazy. Before he knew what was happening, she had moved her hands from his butt to his chest, had pushed him onto his back, and was sitting astride him. He laughed delightedly and said, "Like it on top, do you? I never would have imagined that."

"I like a lot of things you have no idea about. I'm just curious about what you like," she said with a grin as she lowered her head to his chest taking one masculine nipple in her mouth, tugging at it with her teeth while her hand caressed the other.

"Oh," he groaned as let her take control, which was highly unusual for him. He usually liked to be in control and be the one to set the pace.

Amanda raised her head and said, "Well, I'd say we have a winner."

Lee groaned in frustration and said, "You are a brutal tease," as he placed his hands on her hips.

"I'm not done yet," she said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye as she plucked a rose petal from the bed and slowly ran it down his chest teasing each nipple with it one at a time, then trailing it down his taut abdomen, dipping it into his navel, smiling as she watched the reaction on his face. She then scooted herself down to the foot of the bed to slide the silky rose petal along his erect shaft delighted in hearing him groan, closing his eyes in response. She lowered her head and reached out with her tongue to lick the tiny drop of moisture from the tip of his penis for capturing the head in her mouth.

Lee's eyes snapped open in surprise and let out a long, low moan of pleasure at what Amanda was doing to him. "Oh, Amanda," he cried out as he reached out and tangled his fingers in her long dark curls.

She pulled her mouth from him with a loud pop and with a teasing smile asked, "Do we have another winner?"

"God, yes!" he replied. Amanda began to lower her head again, but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder and said, "No."

"No?"

"No," he said more firmly as he pulled her to him and kissed her soundly before rolling her over onto her back again causing her to squeal. "It's my turn," he told her as he dropped a handful of the rose petals onto her body. He then took one of them to torture her with the same way she'd tortured him, teasing first one nipple then the other before taking one of them into his mouth while he trailed the rose petal down her chest to her stomach and finally coming to rest between her legs, using the soft rose petal to stroke her softly.

Amanda gasped at Lee's touch, thinking this was so much better than her shower fantasy. "Oh, Lee," she cried her breath beginning to get ragged as he slid one finger inside her while still stroking her with the rose petal using his thumb. Amanda cried out as his touch brought her to a mind-blowing climax that was better than any fantasy could hope to bring about.

He raised his head from her breast, kissed her softly and said with a smug grin, "I think we have a winner."

"Oh, yes," she gasped out still trying to catch her breath.

"Good," he replied kissing her again feeling ike he couldn't get enough of kissing her. The kisses they'd shared after repeating their vows had been good, but they had just been a preview for what was to come. He couldn't get over how much her felt just by kissing her.

Amanda pulled back from his kisses and said in a low voice, "No more teasing," as she reached into the basket for a condom, tearing open the package with her teeth and extracting its contents. Lee watched in amazement as she reached for him and expertly sheathed him in it, rolling it down his shaft, taking great care to leave room at its tip.

He looked at her in surprise and said, "How...?" His words were cut off by her pulling his head down to hers for another seating kiss. Lee took the hint as he slowly guided his latex-covered erection into her. They both moaned as the connection was made. He pulled back from their kiss and searched her eyes for any sign of hesitation.

"Lee, please," she pleaded hoarsely as she wrapped her legs around his hips to encourage him.

Lee once again took the hint, grasping one hip as he pushed deeper into her. "Oh, Amanda, you feel so incredible," he gasped as he began to plunge into her, withdrawing slowly then pushing back in again, relishing her eager response, her cries of pleasure, the way that she drove her hips up to meet his every time, they way that her long legs felt wrapped around him, her hands on his back.

"Ohhhh, Lee," she screamed digging her nails into his back as another intense climax consumed her.

"Oh, Amanda," He cried out again at feeling her clamped tightly around him and trembling beneath him. He increased his pace to keep her feeling that way and soon his own climax hit him harder and faster than he'd ever imagined possible all his fantasies of her shattered as the reality of really making love to her set in. He found he couldn't stop calling her name as he emptied himself with his release, panting and sweating profusely until he was spent. "Amanda, oh, Amanda,' he kept saying repeatedly as he peppered her with soft kisses to her shoulder, her neck, her face, and finally her lips. They lay like that for a long moment together, sharing long, lingering kisses while their heart rates slowed and their bodies cooled.

When their kiss finally ended, Amanda said with a cheeky grin, "We definitely have a winner."

Lee chuckled heartily and placed one more quick kiss to her lips before rolling off of her to take care of the condom. "Oh, shit, No, we don't," he said in a panic as he looked downward.

"What do you mean?" Amanda said worriedly.

"It...It...It...uh...it broke," he stammered nervously.


	4. Chapter 4

A wave of panic hit Amanda. "What do you mean it broke?"She said worriedly as she stared at him in disbelief.

"Just what I said, Amanda. I mean it broke when we were..." Lee halted his statement abruptly, not sure how to finish that sentence. When they were what? Having sex, getting it on, screwing. _Making love, _he thought as he realized there was no other way he could think of it with her. He just worried that she didn't feel the same way. In his mind, they had definitely been making love._ Maybe making a baby, too, _he added his thoughts drifting to the mental image he'd created of her pregnant with his child. Now, he was worried that just like his fantasy of making love to her had become a reality, that his other fantasy image of her may become a reality as well. "...you know."

"You know? What are we, twelve?" she said incredulously as she self-consciously pulled the sheet up to her neck and feeling ridiculous doing so. After all, the man had just been inside her not ten minutes ago. _And now maybe his baby is too," _she thought. Amanda reflexively lowered her hand to her abdomen.

The gesture was not lost on Lee. "What do you want me to say, Amanda? This has never happened to me before. I am always _beyond_ careful. That's why I wanted us to talk about it before we..." He stopped himself again, flung himself out of bed, yanked off the offending prophylactic, tossed it into the trashcan beside the nightstand and snapped. "Stupid foreign piece of crap. You know, this is why people tell you, you should always buy American." He picked up his robe from the floor and shoved his arms into the sleeves, belting it tightly around his waist. Amanda couldn't help laughing as she wriggled out of bed herself and reached for her own robe. "You think this is funny?" he said turning to look at her just as she was tying the belt on her robe. When she continued laughing uncontrollably, he couldn't help but laugh too. "Ok, I guess it _is_ a little funny," he said crossing to the other side of the bed and wrapping his arms around her.

Amanda snuggled into his embrace and said, "What are we going to do? An annulment's out of the question now." Inwardly, she was praying that he'd agree with her and think as she did that they should stay married, whether there was a baby or not.

"Why would you say that?"Lee said with a dumfounded expression as he pulled back from her and held her at arm's length. Did she seriously still want to end their marriage after...he found he couldn't even finish the thought.

"Because we...you know," she said. _Made love, _she added mentally.

"Ok, now who's acting twelve?" he said with a chuckle, but noticed she was no longer laughing.

She pulled herself from his arms and gave him a withering glare deeply hurt by the fact that he hadn't really responded to her comment about an annulment, hadn't indicated whether he still wanted out of their marriage and instead had made a joke. "That's not funny," she said icily.

At seeing the stern look that he'd seen her give her boys from time to time when he'd been lurking in her back yard he said, "What?"

"Since we can't legally get an annulment now that we've...um...consummated our marriage, that means a divorce," she said sadly, as she tried to stop herself from tearing up at the distasteful thought of another divorce.

"No," he said firmly. "No divorce." While he was panicked at the thought that he might have gotten her pregnant, he wasn't about to shirk his responsibility to her if he had. The Colonel had taught him better than that.

"No?" she said, hope rising within her, desperately wishing that he meant what she longed for him to mean. She had to know. "What do you mean?" she asked warily.

"Not yet, at least," he said covering quickly trying not to betray his own feelings that had only intensified now that they'd made love. "Not at least until we know for sure if you're...I mean, if we...if our actions tonight had...consequences." _Damn it! Why can't I just say the words? _

Amanda's eyes flare in anger and disappointment. "OHO, I see. So, you're okay with staying married to me if you knocked me up, but otherwise you still want to end it!"

Lee was stunned by the harshness of her words. "What the hell do you want from me, Amanda? I told you when we first met that I was a loner, no buddies, no girlfriends, no attachments. That's how I've been for years and how I've always liked it!" He knew that wasn't true anymore, not since meeting Amanda. Getting to know her had made him realize how empty his life was. He could never tell her that though. He'd never hear the end of it. Besides, how was he supposed to tell her that after all the times he'd insisted that he was better off alone, that he'd now discovered that he couldn't live without her?

"No attachments? Funny, I seemed to notice you seemed pretty attached when you were calling out my name!" she fired back.

"You seemed to be getting pretty attached yourself, _Sweetheart_. I seem to remember you calling out my name too! Pretty damn loudly at that!" He gripped her arms and pressed himself against her. "It was good, wasn't it? The way I made you feel?" He ground his hips against hers and growled, "Better than with your ex, wasn't it? Did he ever make you feel that way? Your second time around was the best one, wasn't it? Of course, since I'm only the second guy you've ever slept with, you wouldn't have much to compare it to, would you?"

Amanda felt another wave of desire flowing through her at feeling him so close to her again, feeling what he was doing with his hips, but she wasn't going to give in, not with the way he was acting. She braced her hands against his chest and pushed him forcefully away from her. "Don't flatter yourself!" she spat at him. "It was good, I admit that. I couldn't deny it if I tried because you know me well enough to know I'd be lying, but it's not as if I've never been there before. I'm not some virgin bride here! Furthermore, just so we're clear, you're not the second! My ex-husband wasn't even the second!"

"What?" Lee said completely thrown by her last outburst.

"That's right," she said smugly. "Come on, you've seen all the background stuff the agency has on me. I was twenty-two when I married Joe. Did you honestly think at that age, that I was some sad little blushing virgin just anxiously waiting for my wedding night to let my husband deflower me?"

Lee gaped at her in surprise. That was exactly what he'd thought. She seemed so reserved, he'd thought for sure that she was the type of woman who'd never sleep with a man outside of marriage. Of course, now that he'd slept with her and seen her lower her inhibitions, he realized just how unreserved she could be. "Well, I guess that answers the question I had about how you were so good at putting a condom on," he said sarcastically. "Here, I thought your experience was limited to your ex."

Amanda glared at him and said, "Did it never occur to you that that's the reason I only have two children and not five or six when I was married to him for ten years? What, did you think that I only had sex with him twice in that whole time?"

"I guess I never thought about it ," he said. "While we're on the subject, if you're so damn active, why the hell aren't you on the pill like most normal women your age?"

"Because I haven't needed to be lately. Unlike you, I don't sleep around!"

"You talk like I just jump into bed with any woman who's willing and that is just not true! The last time was over two months ago."

"Oh? Two whole months?" she said with a sardonic laugh. "Look, the point I'm making is that even though I may have slept with more people than you thought I had, I can still count them all on one hand! Can you?"

"Ok, no, but that's not the point." He took a deep breath to calm himself and sighed running a hand through his hair. "Look, this fighting isn't getting us anywhere. We still have a serious situation to deal with here."

"Agreed," she said.

He approached her, placed his hands on her arms, more gently this time, looked into her eyes and said, "I want you to know that if you are...pregnant, I'll stand by you, no matter what decision you decide to make."

She wriggled out of his grasp again and said, "What do you mean, whatever decision_ I_ decide to make? We are in this together. If it happened, we did it together and any decisions to be made should be made together."

"Why are you getting so defensive when I'm trying to be supportive here? I mean, in spite of everything, we're still friends, aren't we?" When she was silent and only glared at him open-mouthed, he began to get worried and said again, "Aren't we?" When she was still silent, he began to really panic. "Amanda, please tell me we're still friends."

"Friends, Lee? Friends? Really? How dare you ask me something like that! We're a hell of a lot more than friends, Lee. We slept together. That makes us lovers."

"Lovers? Come on, Amanda, don't romanticize this. I don't want you getting too attached to me," he said. As much as he would love to feel that she shared his feelings for her, he knew that he would be no good for her.

"Attached, Lee?" she said incredulously as she marched over to the desk and picked up the document that lay on its surface and marched back toward him. "Do you see this?" she said as held up their marriage certificate for him to see. "That is your signature, right there next to mine. Like it or not, we are _married_. That's as attached as it gets, which by the way I seem to recall you promising me would _never_ happen! You swore to me that this case would be wrapped up before it ever got to that point! If it had been then we could have been home by now and none of this would have ever happened!"

"So you're blaming me for this? God, if this is how you act after you get some, it's no wonder you're not still married!"

"Newsflash, Lee! I _am_ married!" she said waving the paper in his face. "And so are you!"

"I don't know how the hell your ex was able to stand being married to you for ten years!"

"Of course you don't! We weren't married ten _minutes_ before you wanted out of it!' she yelled. She knew she was being overly dramatic about their situation, but the idea of another divorce was making her sick to her stomach. "You're going to have to face the fact that we are married and we have to deal with it!"

"Ok, yes, we _are_ married, but it's not like this was some grand romantic honeymoon that we spent months planning! We didn't plan to get married and yes, I told you it wouldn't come to that, but it's not as if I could have possibly anticipated _this_ would happen!" he said with a wild gesture toward the bed where they'd just made love.

"It's not like I anticipated this either! I was perfectly happy with my life the way it was! Do you think I _wanted _to marry you?"

"Oh, who are you trying to kid, Amanda? Don't you think I know that you've had a little crush on me since the day we met!" He said pointedly desperate to get her to own up to the fact that she had feelings for him the way that he did for her. "You may not have planned to marry me, but I bet you're glad this happened. The way you were coming at me tonight, it sure as hell seemed like you planned to get me into bed with you!"

"That's outrageous! You were the one who kissed me first! And you were the one bending me over the arm of the couch!" she said with a gesture to the loveseat where the whole thing had started.

"But you were the one who dropped your robe in front of me! And that little "muscle spasm" of yours? I bet that was all an elaborate set up! You had time to get a good long look at the contents of that basket while I was in the shower. I bet you didn't even have a real muscle spasm, just used that as an excuse to get me where you wanted me! In fact, I'm betting you even were hoping to get pregnant so we'd have to stay married!"

"You talk like I set this whole thing up to force you to marry me so I could get you here to seduce you! I wasn't the least bit interested in even _marrying_ you, let alone getting pregnant! I'm already raising two kids by myself! Do you think if I had the choice, I'd want someone like you being a father to my kids when you prefer traipsing all over the globe? If I wanted that, I'd still be married to my ex! I don't know where you get off thinking that you can honestly accuse me of setting this whole thing up! If you recall, I didn't even know all of the details of our cover assignment until we boarded the ship because _you_ didn't tell me about it," she said pointing an accusing finger at him.

"There you go blaming me again! Maybe you should take a little of the blame yourself! After all, you were the one who put the condom on. Maybe you tore it with those wicked claws of yours! I know they sure as hell did a number on my back!" Thinking about that and how she'd clung to him so tightly in the throes of passion just made him want to throw her down on the bed and do it all over again.

"You didn't seem to be complaining when you were inside me," she countered."In fact, it seemed like that got you even hotter!"

Hearing her put it so bluntly filled Lee with a mixture of feelings. He'd never imagined she'd be such a firebrand. In that moment of hearing her say it, he kept thinking about was how much he wanted to be inside her again, but at the same time, under the circumstances he knew how dangerous that would be. He had to think of something to get his mind off how badly he wanted her. He took another calming breath and suggested, "Ok, well maybe since you opened the package with your teeth, you damaged it that way."

"Why are you so determined to blame me for this? Did you ever think that it could have been the massage oil? I mean, anyone with half a brain knows you're not supposed to mix oil-based products with condoms! Maybe you still had it on your hands and that's what caused the problem!"

"So, you're saying I don't have more than half a brain?"

"If the shoe fits, _Scarecrow_! If I remember my _Wizard of Oz_ correctly the scarecrow was the one without a brain!" she said pointing her finger at him again.

"Oh, so now you're blaming me some more?"He shouted in her face.

"Well, you were blaming me!"She fired back in his face.

"Well, you started it by blaming me in the first place!"

"That is so immature! You're worse than my children!" she shouted.

"God, I hate you!"He said in anger even though that couldn't further from the truth.

"I hate you too!"She screamed back. She knew she didn't mean it, but was so angry at him and the accusations he'd hurled at her that she couldn't see straight.

"You can hate me all you want! That's just fine with me!"He shouted though inside he was dying at hearing her say just the opposite of what he wanted to hear from her.

"Fine with me too!"She fired back though she longed to hear him saying _I love you_ rather than _I hate you_.

"Good!"He said with a firm nod.

"Good!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Their eyes locked and they both stared silently at one another both breathing heavily, the tension in the room now thicker than it had been before they'd made love. Before either of them knew what was happening, they'd moved into each other's arms and were locked in a frenzied, passionate embrace, groping and grinding against one another as they kissed furiously, their tongues battling for dominance as they worked their way back to the bed moaning against each other. "God, I want you," Lee growled as he tore his mouth from hers and lowered it ravage the tender skin at her neck, biting down hard as his hands gripped her bare bottom underneath her robe and he ground his hips roughly against her.

"Oh, I want you too," she gasped out as her desire for him escalated at feeling his mouth on her skin and his erection pressed against her. She nipped at his earlobe as they toppled to the bed together, Lee on his back with her atop him. Amanda reached behind his head to pluck another condom from the basket, which Lee quickly took from her hands.

"Let me do it this time," he growled. "We're not taking any more chances." He made quick work of the foil packet and making sure the condom was properly in place before pulling her down to him his hands sliding inside her robe to cup her breasts while she reached inside his to guide him inside her. "God, Amanda," he cried out as she began to buck against him pushing him deeper into her. He raised up enough to capture one breast in his mouth biting down on it while he gripped the other tightly.

"Lee!" She moaned as she clung to his shoulders and began to ride him harder, impaling herself on him repeatedly, driving him as deep into her as she could. Her breathing was becoming labored as she reached her peak quicker this time than she had the first time, screaming his name at the intensity of it, her nails digging into him as she held on for dear life.

"Ohhhh, Amanda," Lee groaned as wave after wave of pleasure overtook him. Feeling her trembling body locked with his and hearing her screams of ecstasy sent him tumbling over the edge right behind her. He pulled her head to his, crushing her lips with his own as they rode out the wave together, both quaking and trembling in each other's arms.


	5. Chapter 5

Both Lee and Amanda were still breathing heavily from their fierce kisses and their riotous tumble when Amanda pulled her mouth from his and buried her head against his neck while he wrapped his arms around her waiting for his body to cool down and his breathing to return to normal. When his shaking finally subsided, he noticed that Amanda's had not. She was still shuddering in his arms. "Amanda," he said quietly as he brushed a soft kiss into her hair. When she didn't respond, he rubbed his hand against her back and said, "Hey, are you ok?" He then felt a drop of moisture land on his neck and it hit him then that she was crying. He pulled on her neck to make her face him and was horror-struck to see tears streaming down her face. "What's wrong?"He asked worriedly.

Amanda quickly scrambled off of him and out of bed turning from him and cinching her robe tightly closed.

"Oh, God," Lee said in concern for her. He rose from the bed himself, disposed of the used condom, this one intact, and quickly approached her. He placed his hands on her shoulders from behind and said, "Amanda, Look at me."

Amanda shrugged his shoulders off of her and attempted to head for the bathroom, but Lee cut her off before she could get there, stepping in front of her, once again gently placing his hands on her shoulders. She quickly looked away from him and tried to shrug him off again, but he held her tightly this time, not letting her. "Amanda, look at me," he repeated. When she didn't, he slid his hand beneath her chin to force her to make eye contact with him. "Talk to me, Amanda. What's going on here?" When she looked at him with sorrowful eyes, but still didn't speak, a horrible thought struck him as their last round of lovemaking had gotten a little rough. "Did I hurt you?" He hoped not. She seemed like she'd been enjoying it every bit as much as he had been and knowing Amanda, he was sure she would have said something if it was too much for her to handle, but she'd never said a word, She'd been screaming his name in wild abandon. Now, he was worried that her screams hadn't been screams of pleasure, but screams of pain. "Did I?"

Amanda took a shuddering breath and answered, "No." _Yes, _she added mentally but he hadn't hurt her in the way that he was meaning._._

"You don't sound too convinced of that," Lee said pointedly.

"No, Lee, I'm not hurt." _Not physically, _she thought as she wiped away her tears and tried to calm herself. "It was amazing and incredible. It's just.."

"Just what?" When she was silent, he gesture toward the loveseat and said, "Come on. Why don't you sit down while you compose your thoughts. Take your time. I'm not going anywhere."

_Not yet,_ Amanda thought as she recalled his words from earlier about the potential divorce. _Not until we know for sure._ She took that to mean just what she'd shouted at him during their blazing argument; that it seemed he was willing to stay married to her if she was pregnant, but otherwise, forget it. Her thoughts were interrupted by Lee.

"Here" Lee was holding out a glass of water. "You look like you could use this," he said as he sat beside her.

She took it gratefully and took a sip before turning to him and saying, "Thank you. I kind of feel like I could use something a little stronger though."

"Well, you've still got half a glass of champagne sitting there," He nodded toward the champagne flutes still on the coffee table. "It's probably warm by now, though."

"Yeah, probably wouldn't taste to great warm," she said as set the drinking glass down, pulled her feet up to the seat and rested her chin on her knees.

Lee sighed as this motion had caused the folds in her robe to part enough to expose her right thigh He swallowed hard, quickly rose from his seat and said, "Why I don't I just check out what they've got in the mini-bar in this place, huh?"

"Won't you get in trouble for that once the agency gets the bill for the room?"

"You just let me worry about that. If they say anything I'll pay for it out of my own pocket if I have to," he said as he found the key to the mini-bar and began rooting through bottles. He plucked two tiny bottles from the little refrigerator, two cocktail glasses from its surface, then walked to the ice bucket hoping that not all the ice in it had melted yet. He was happy to see there were a few un-melted bits of ice in it as he prepared drinks for both of them. "Besides," he said as handed her one of them before sitting down to face her. "It's not the agency should be picking up the tab for our honeymoon, anyway," he said with an impish grin as he reached out with his free hand and lightly caressed her exposed thigh with just his fingertips.

"Would you be serious?"Amanda said taking a gulp of her drink and shivering slightly at his touch. It wasn't an erotic touch, just a gentle caress, but she felt herself growing warm again and not just from the whiskey that she'd just swallowed.

"I am, Amanda," he said taking a belt of his own drink. "Like you said, like it or not, we _are_ married and that makes this our honeymoon, especially when you consider that we've made love twice now."

"Made love?" Amanda questioned surprised by his choice of words, hoping against hope that that meant he was feeling the same way she was about things. She wanted desperately to ask him about it, but her fear got the better of her and instead said, "Now, who's romanticizing things?"

"You mean, you don't feel the same way about it?" Lee said as he pulled his hand from her lag as if he'd been scalded, disappointment flooding through him now that he'd finally found the courage to say it only to find out she didn't think of it that way.

"Well, that term, making love, it's just...that I...I mean, that's usually reserved for people who are...are...you know...in love with each other," she stammered nervously as she took another swig of her drink, hoping he'd say that they were.

Lee nearly choked on his drink at hearing those words from her. Was it possible? "I...Well...I mean, we do...care about each other, don't we? I mean...we've worked closely together for over a year now...and we...we were friends before this ever happened." He took a shot and reached for her free hand, clasping his fingers with hers. "I mean, at least I care about you."

"I...I care about you too, but...m-m-making love. Getting married, whether we meant to or not. That changes things."

"Yeah, I know. And the fact that I might have gotten you pregnant, that changes things even more." he paused for a beat, chugged down the rest of his drink, slammed the glass down on the table, took her glass from her hand and set it down next to his before clasping her other hand in his. "I meant what I said earlier. I will stand by you, no matter what and I don't think we should even discuss ending our marriage until we know for sure whether or not you're carrying my child."

"Lee, I don't want you feeing obligated to stay married to me because we might be having a baby. If anyone knows that you shouldn't stay married just for the sake of a child, it's me after what I went through with my first marriage." She bit her lip as she tried not to start crying again as the bitter thought of a second divorce crossed her mind again.

"It's not obligation," Lee argued. "Like I said, I _do_ care about you. Besides, like _you _said, the sex is amazing...and incredible," he added with a devilish grin.

Amanda yanked one hand from his and slapped him hard on the arm, but couldn't help laughing as she did so at the expression on his face. "So, that's why you wanted to stay married to me? For the sex?"She teased.

"No, want to stay married because if you and I are having a baby we should be handling it together. I would want to be a part of my child's life and I can't imagine a better mother to have for my child than you. So, no, it's not just about the sex," He paused then added with another grin, "but it's definitely an added perk. It's funny because I always heard married sex was incredibly dull."

"That's because you've never experienced it before," she fired back. She was quiet for a moment her laughter subsiding as a serious thought struck her. "Ok, if I agree to this, there's something I want...no, something I need from you."

"Name it," Lee said.

"No girls," she said firmly.

Lee rose from his seat angrily. "You're kidding, right?"

"If you can't agree to that, then the answer is no. I will _not_ stay married to you if you're running around bed hopping all over town. It's better that we end it now regardless of the fact that I may be pregnant. I mean, it's not like I can't handle raising a child on my own. I'm already doing that now."

"That's not what I meant, Amanda. What I meant is that I can't believe that you would think I would do that to you. I know that I have a less than stellar reputation when it comes to women, but know this, Amanda. I have never, _ever_ been unfaithful to any woman that I have been with and I'm not about to start with you, especially since you're my wife! Why would you think that I would? Did your ex cheat on you or something? Is that why your first marriage ended?"

"No," Amanda said. "Joe never cheated. At least I don't believe he did. I guess he could without me ever knowing about it since we were apart so much, but even if he did, that's not why we got divorced."

"Why _did_ you get divorced?"

"Mm-mm," Amanda said with a shake of her head.

"Amanda, cone on," Lee said sitting to face her again.

"No, Lee, " she said firmly. "I don't want to talk about my first marriage. I want to talk about ours and what we're going to do about it."

"I thought we just agreed that we were going to stay together until we know if you're pregnant or not." he said in confusion.

"And what? Do you come meet my family? I don't know that that would be a great idea if we don't end up staying together if I'm not pregnant. They'd never understand it, especially the boys."

"But what if you are pregnant? How would handle explaining that one to your mom and the kids? Oh, by the way I'm married to a guy you've never met and I'm having his kid."

"I don't know, Lee. This just happened. I don't have all the answers any more than you do. Maybe, you could meet them and we could tell them we're, I don't know, dating or something, although you know how much I hate lying to them.

"So, don't make it a lie," Lee said. "We could actually date, you know."

"I think we're a little beyond the dating stage now," Amanda pointed out.

"Ok, yes, we've done this backwards. We're married and had a honeymoon without ever having a real date, but who says we can't have that now? Maybe it will help us both deal with this if we got to know each other a little better outside of the office."

"Speaking of the office, what are we going to tell people there? I'm sure Francine will have a field day with this," she said worriedly.

"Screw Francine! I'm so sick of the way she treats you like a piece of office furniture. If she asks, we just tell her it's none of her damn business! This is between you and me and it's _nobody's_ business but ours. This," he said as he slid his hand back up her thigh, "this," he brushed a soft kiss to her lips, "and this' he pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her, "is just between you and me." He then lowered his mouth to hers in a hungry kiss, his desire for her building again as he plundered her mouth with his tongue, his fire for her fueled even more by her equally hungry response.

When oxygen became an issue, they broke apart breathlessly leaning their heads together. Amanda looked into his eyes and said with a smile, "So, I guess we no longer need to have a conversation about the sleeping arrangements for tonight, do we?"

"No, we don't," Lee said. "I'm not letting you sleep anywhere but next to me tonight," He rose from the loveseat with his bride in his arms, carried her to the bed and laid her down on it, dropped his robe to the floor, before climbing into bed beside her divesting her of her robe as well as they fell into yet another passionate embrace.


	6. Chapter 6

The following morning, Amanda awoke to a heavy weight on her chest. She opened her eyes to find Lee's arm draped across her holding her tightly and all the memories of the previous night came flooding back. She turned to look at him, only to find that he was already looking at her with a warm smile on his face. She shifted nervously, a little disconcerted by the intensity of his gaze. "Good morning," she said nervously.

"Morning," he replied with a smile thinking about how much he enjoyed waking up next to her and how he could definitely get used to it.

"How long have you been awake," Amanda inquired not sure what to make of the expression on his face. It was almost...almost an expression of...love? _Don't be ridiculous, _she scolded herself. _He doesn't love you. _Tears once again threatened to form as she thought that he'd only suggested that they stay married because he felt he had to in the event that their lovemaking had created a child. _But he did say he wanted to date you, get to know you better. _

"A while," Lee answered interrupting Amanda' silent argument with herself.

"How long's a while?"

Lee glanced at the clock and said, "About an hour."

_An hour?_ Amanda thought. _Has he just been staring at me this whole time?_ She wanted to ask him that, but her fear of the answer got the better of her and instead asked, "Why didn't you wake me?"

"You looked so peaceful while you were sleeping, I...uh...I just didn't want to disturb you." The truth was, he liked watching her sleep, was happy to see the contented look on her face as she dozed in his arms, hoping that the contented look was because she was dreaming about him. If he were truly honest with himself though, he'd admit that part of the reason he hadn't woken her was out of sheer, blind panic at the thought that as soon as she woke, she'd be overcome with morning-after guilt and change her mind about staying married, making their conversation of the night before meaningless. He couldn't take that chance.

"It's late," Amanda said with a glance at the clock. "We should really get up, get packed and get dressed. We've got a plane to catch."

"In a minute," he said planting a soft kiss on her lips in an attempt to halt the panic he could see beginning in her eyes. "It's only nine o'clock. We've got time, especially since we don't have to pack. If you recall, we never did get around to _un_packing."

"You make a good point," she said softly, reeling slightly from the gentleness of the kiss he'd just given her. It was so different from the smoldering kisses of the night before. It was so...loving...so...tender...her heart soared at the thought that he might feel something more than just a physical desire for her.

"Of course, a big part of that had to do with the fact that we never felt the need to get dressed last night," he said with a devilish grin.

_Or maybe not_, Amanda thought in disappointment that it seemed he was only kissing her in an attempt to get things started again. "Well, we should at least shower and get dressed," she said as she attempted to pull herself from his strong embrace.

"What's your hurry," Lee said as he pulled her closer to him. _Oh, God, _he thought in a panic. _She __**has**__ changed her mind. _He couldn't let her do that. He kissed her again, more firmly this time. He knew that she felt the same desire for him that he felt for her. If he could just make her feel it again, then maybe she wouldn't run, wouldn't want to talk of divorce anymore as she had last night.

Amanda sank into his kiss feeling her desire for him mounting again at the contact and the knowledge that even if he didn't love her, he still wanted her. _That's something, _she thought. With his reputation, that fact that he hadn't gotten tired of her even after making love three times was a good sign. Maybe if she could just keep him feeling that same level of desire for her, he'd decide that he didn't want their marriage to end even if it turned out that she wasn't carrying his child. They kissed and held each other for a few minutes more until they were both too out of breath to continue. When Amanda was able to catch her breath for a moment, she said, "As nice as this is, I really should...um...get in the shower."

"You just showered last night," He pointed out.

"I know, but that was before..."Amanda's voice trailed off as she found she wasn't sure how to finish that sentence.

"Before..." Lee said feeling downhearted. Did she want to shower to wash away the memories of the night they'd shared, wash him off her? Was she intending it to be a shower of shame? Did she regret it that much?

"Before I got all sticky from the massage oil," she answered quickly trying not to convey everything she was feeling. "Besides that, I don't really want to board the plane smelling like..." she trailed off again and blushed furiously at what she'd almost said.

"Raw sex?"Lee completed for her with a grin earning him a sound smack on his bare chest from her. He laughed, leaned in, nuzzled her neck, inhaling her scent and said, "I wouldn't worry about that. You smell like roses."

"So do you," she said as she planted a kiss to his chest. "But I'll still feel better after a shower." She then wriggled out of his arms and made a beeline for the bathroom before he could stop her again.

Lee followed, quickly caught up to her, spun her around to face him, pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately delighted that she responded eagerly by sliding her arms his chest to the back of his neck, pulling at the back of his head to deepen the kiss. He released her lips, but still held her and said in a low husky voice, "You know, I could use a shower too." He mind drifted back to the near miss last night when he had thought regretfully about how he'd missed his opportunity to join her in the shower by hesitating for too long.

"Oh? You just had a shower last night too," she pointed out.

"Yes, but while it's perfectly acceptable for a woman to smell like roses, it's not so great for a guy."

"That is such a sexist thing to say," Amanda said as she attempted to extract herself from his grasp.

"I didn't mean it that way," Lee said keeping a firm grip on his wife's waist, not willing to let her escape from him, at least until he had a chance to explain and maybe a chance to try to gauge what she was feeling about their erotic night together. "Think about it, Amanda. If you didn't know what happened, that you were the one responsible for making me smell like roses," he whispered this bit low in her ear as he nuzzled her neck, his lips finding the tender spot that he'd already discovered made her weak. Feeling her acquiesce, he raised his head up to look at her. "If I walked into the office like that, what would you think?"

"I don't know, knowing you, I'd probably just think you had a wild night with one of your girlfriends," Amanda said pointedly.

"Oh, I did have a wild night," Lee said with an amorous smile. "But not with a mere girlfriend, with my wife. Besides, I was kind of between girlfriends when all this happened."

"What happened to Gillian?'

"Don't change the subject," Lee said.

"No, I'm curious," Amanda said. "Last I knew, you had had this romantic weekend in the Poconos planned."

"That got shot to hell when you were arrested in Munich, along with my relationship with her."

"Oh," Amanda said. "Sorry."

"Don't be. I didn't really see it being true love anyway," Lee said. _Not like what I feel for you, _he added silently.

"No?"

"No. Besides, I ended up having a better time with you in Munich than I would have had with her and we ended up exposing Harry as a double agent. That was a much more productive use of my time. Now, back to that other thing, I think you get the point that I was trying to make."

"Yeah, I do," she conceded. "It probably wouldn't enhance your already tarnished reputation to go back to the office smelling like roses."

"No, it would not," Lee said with a chuckle.

"Well, you know, I never said that I had to shower alone," she replied as she returned his smile.

"Yeah?"He said hopefully.

"Yeah," Amanda said. "Besides, it conserves water that way."

"Oh, that's as good a reason as any to share a shower, doing our part for the planet," he said planting one more soft kiss to her lips before they walked to the bathroom hand in hand.

"I think so," Amanda said with a grin/

They weren't in the bathroom for ten minutes when they were all over each other again, spending a much longer time in the shower than either of them intended as this led to another round of lovemaking. They exited the bathroom both wrapped in towels and still clinging to each other tightly stealing little kisses as they made their way back into the main room. "So much for your theory of conversing water," Lee said as leaned in for another kiss. "I think we used up more water than we would have if we'd showered separately." He then kissed her again.

"Are you complaining," she teased as she kissed him.

"God, no," He said as he backed up to the bed with her in his arms causing them both to topple to its surface.

"Good," she said as she leaned in to kiss him again delighted when he snaked his hand to the back of her head to deepen their kiss.

"Mmm," he groaned against her mouth as they kissed furiously and he felt himself once again becoming aroused by her. He'd never imagined that just kissing a woman could bring out that level of desire in him. With her, he felt like he was a love machine.

"Wow," Amanda said as they broke apart breathlessly. "I can definitely see what all the girls see in you."

"Hey, you said no girls when we agreed to try to make this work," Lee said, "So, how about no talking about girls either?"

"Did we agree to try to make this work?" Amanda asked in confusion although elated that he may actually want to make their marriage a real one. "I mean, like a real marriage? I thought we were just going stick it out long enough to find out if I'm pregnant."

"Well, I did say I wanted to date you. I wouldn't want to do that if I didn't at least want to see what we could work out, you know, in the future. I mean, if you were pregnant, we'd be staying together a lot longer. I think that warrants getting to know each other a little better."

"I thought you only said that so that we wouldn't be lying to my family if we said we were dating. You know, to keep me from feeling guilty about it since you know how much I hate lying to them."

"If that's what you think, then you weren't listening very carefully. I really do want to take you out on a real date."

"And this is in no way, an elaborate scheme to have more opportunities to get me into to bed with you? I mean, you must think I'm an easy lay by now."

"Easy? No, not easy at all," Lee said as he thought back to the night before and the unbearably awkward tension that had filled the room before they'd made love. "Besides, I've got you in bed with me right now," he said flashing her a roguish grin.

At seeing the flashy smile, how it accentuated his adorable dimples, Amanda couldn't help smiling back. "So, you do," she then reached across him for another condom out of the basket, waved it in his face and said, "So, what do you suggest we do about it."

"Ok, maybe I was wrong, maybe you are easy," he teased intending to make her laugh but he soon noticed that Amanda wasn't laughing. Instead, she was staring intently at the package in her hand. He propped himself up on his elbows in an attempt to see what had captured her attention. "What is it, another damaged one? Did the hotel just get a bad batch of something?"

"No, it's not that," Amanda said. "I...um...I was just thinking about the shower...you know that we...um...we took a risk...we didn't...I mean, it's not like condoms are as reliable in the shower, anyway, but...um...still, we took a risk."

"Oh," Lee said getting her meaning. "God, I didn't even think about it." Truthfully, though, he had. He'd thought about slowing things down, thought about moving their love fest out of the shower, but then he'd also thought about the fact that Amanda had only agreed to stay married to him if it turned out that he'd gotten her pregnant, only wanted to tell her family the whole truth then. He gently pushed her of off him and sat up feeling incredibly guilty because he'd been thinking in that moment in the shower that he wanted to get her pregnant if that was the only way to keep her with him.

"Lee, don't," Amanda said in a pleading tone. "Don't turn away from me now. We...uh...we should talk about this."

Lee looked at her, took her hands in his and said, "Look, we've already talked about the possibility. We knew last night with the broken condom that it was already possible."

"I know," she said. "But that doesn't mean we should take any added risks."

"We were both involved in that," Lee said.

"I know," Amanda said. "I think we should just agree to be more cautious next time. I mean, unless we're _trying_ to have a baby," Amanda suggested sure that she'd seen the faintest look of guilt cross Lee's features for a moment as if he hadn't really forgotten about taking precautions and had purposely neglected to.

"Next time?" Lee questioned. "Does that mean that when we get back to DC, you're not opposed to there being a next time?"

"Well, we were all geared up for a next time until I killed the mood," she said with a chuckle. "Besides, I think that's just one more thing that we've discovered we do well together."

"Yeah," Lee said with a smile. "We did, at that." He was silent for a moment then said, "Would it be so bad?"

"I thought we just agreed it wouldn't," Amanda said. "In fact, I think it's been pretty good."

"That's not what I mean. I mean you and me, having a kid together, staying married to raise our kid together. Would it really be that bad?"

"I don't know," Amanda said. "I guess we won't know until it happens. In any case, it would have to be better than what I went through the first time around."

"Oh, thanks a lot," Lee said a little affronted.

"Lee, I'm sorry. I...uh...I guess I'm just a little nervous about this whole thing."

"You're not the only one," He replied. "But I think the key to this is to get through it together."

"You're right," she said.

"We should probably get dressed and get out of here. It's after ten now and checkout's at eleven."

And our plane leaved at one," Amanda added.

They dressed quickly. Lee made a phone call down to the front desk to arrange for a bellman to come up to get their luggage and for a cab to take them to the airport while Amanda bustled around the room, making sure they were leaving nothing behind when Amanda's eyes fell upon the wedding dress she'd hung in the closet. She gently lifted it off the hanging bar in the closet draping it across her arms to keep it from dragging on the floor. "What do you think I should do with this? I can't take it home or I'd never hear the end of it from my mother, but I hate to leave it behind because it was rather expensive."

As Lee finished with his phone call and hung up the phone, he smiled at the memory of how beautiful she'd looked in it when they'd said their vows. "No, you should definitely not leave it behind. You can throw in my garment back and we'll stash it at my place." _It'll give me something to remind me of you, _he added mentally.

Amanda followed Lee's suggestion and said, "I think that's it then." She glanced around the room, a little saddened by the fact that they would soon be leaving their honeymoon suite and heading back to the real world, unsure of how they'd manage once getting there. She glanced at the tangled bedding, the scattered rose petals, empty condom wrappers, and other assorted chaos of the room, taking it all in to create a lasting mental image of their wedding night so that no matter what, she could always hold on to that memory.

Lee followed her gaze, walked to her, slipped his arms around her and said, "Well, we certainly made a mess of this room, didn't we?"

"Yes, we did," she said with a smile as she leaned into his embrace just as a knock sounded on the door.

Lee opened the door to fine the bellman waiting on the other side and allowed him entrance to the room. "Mr. and Mrs. Stetson?"the young man questioned.

Lee looked at Amanda with a smile. It was the first time he'd heard anyone refer to them that way and was hoping that it wouldn't be the last. "Yes, that's us," Lee replied as he linked his hand with Amanda's.


	7. Chapter 7

Lee and Amanda stepped out of the closet elevator together and made their way toward the bullpen when Amanda stopped Lee with a hand on his arm just before they reached the glass doors. Lee turned to her, saw the worried look in her eyes, and said, "What's wrong?"

"It's just...I don't know...I thought I was ready for this...but now..." She glanced through the doors at all the agents bustling around in the bullpen.

"Now, that we're back, you're not so sure," Lee said tensely at watching the way she was nervously fiddling with the rings on her finger, twisting them around and fidgeting. He reached for her hands, clasped them tightly in his to stop her fidgeting and said, "Hey, remember what I said. It's nobody's damn business but ours and we're in this together, remember?"

"I know you said that last night and it made me feel better about all this then, but in the harsh light of day, things...well..." her voice trailed off as she was unable to put into words what she was trying to say.

Lee glanced up at the lighting fixture above them and quipped, "I'd hardly all this canned fluorescent lighting the harsh light of day," He was rewarded with a soft chuckle from Amanda.

Amanda couldn't help but smile at his attempt to use humor to alleviate the tension of their situation. "You know what I mean, though."

"I do," he said as he raised one hand to cup her face and continued with, "but being back here doesn't change anything that I said last night. I meant every word of it. I am going to see this through to the end, whatever that end turns out to be. Besides, it's like I said, in spite of the fact that we may not have planned for things to happen the way that they did, we do agree on one thing."

"And what's that," she said softly comforted by the warmth on his hand on her face, his other clasped with hers.

"That we care about each other. I'm not an expert on the subject, but there are marriages built on a lot less than we have. Who knows? Maybe, we even have a shot of making this work, huh?" He said a probing tone in his voice hoping that she'd agree with him.

"Maybe?" she said hopefully.

_Damn it! _Lee thought. _Why does this stubborn woman always answer a question with a question? _It was clear to him that she was avoiding admitting that she had any feelings for him beyond friendship. "Well, it's not like either of us is making a go of it with anyone else. I mean, look at us, you've been divorced and I've never had a relationship that lasted even a year. You and I at least have our friendship, right?"

"Right, friendship," Amanda said with a firm nod. She then lowered her voice and said, "And we found out last night that the attraction between us is more than just physical, right? I mean, you...I mean, I..." she sighed, took a deep breath to calm her jangled nerves and said, "What I mean to say is that we both agreed that our sex life could be pretty...incredible."

"What do you mean, it could be? I'd say it already is," he said with a grin.

"Yeah," she said blushing slightly at the memories of the night before.

"Come on," he said as he lowered his hand from her face. "Let's go get this over with."

"Yeah," she said.

Lee reached for the door with his free hand, his other still firmly locked with hers as they strode purposefully through the bullpen, ignoring the onlookers, not stopping until they'd entered Billy's office. "Great," he muttered at seeing Francine there standing beside Billy's desk clutching a file folder in one hand.

"Oh, hi, we were just talking about you. So, how was the honeymoon," Francine inquired archly slapping Lee firmly on the back with her free hand. When Lee winced at the contact, Francine glanced at Amanda and said, "That good, huh? My, my, Amanda, you never stop surprising people, do you?" She then glanced back at Lee with an arched eyebrow.

"Francine, we had to jump out of a speeding car," Amanda said covering quickly before Lee could reply. "We both got pretty banged up from that." Lee glanced at Amanda with a bemused smile causing Amanda to cringe at the way she'd phrased her explanation, knowing Francine would jump on it.

"_Banged _up, huh? Interesting choice of words," Francine said.

"Cut it out, Francine," Lee said impatiently as Lee guided Amanda to one of the chairs opposite Billy's desk and took the other for himself.

"My, aren't we testy today? Did the little woman not live up to your expectations?"

"Like Amanda said, we had to jump out of a speeding car, we had a very long night and we just got off the plane and came straight here, so I'm not exactly in the mood for verbal ping-pong."

"Long night, hmmm?" she said glancing from Lee to Amanda and back again. Amanda blushed furiously under Francine's gaze.

"Francine, that's enough," Billy interjected seeing Amanda's obvious discomfort.

"Ok, ok," Francine said holding her hands up in surrender.

"So, I want to compliment the two of you on a job well done," Billy said with a smile. "You two did a fine job. No money, no coup."

"Puerto Faro's democracy looks like it'll survive and thanks to the information Jillian Davis provided, we were able to round up the insurgents."

"Good," Lee said.

"So, that leaves us with just one other thing to take care of," Billy said. "As soon as you told me that you'd been forced to go through with the wedding, I had Francine make a call down to the boys in legal to take care of that. Francine?" Billy glanced as his assistant.

"Oh, right," Francine said with a glance down at the folder in her hand. She pulled a document out of it. "Annulment papers," she said as she handed them to Lee.

"Oh," Lee said in dismay with a glance at Amanda as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, leaning slightly toward her with the document. He hadn't anticipated that the annulment proceedings would have been started already. He gently squeezed her hand with his free one, but didn't say another word.

Amanda glanced over the arm of her chair at the offending paperwork with a frown, biting down on her lower lip nervously. One of them had to say something and since Lee seemed to be stunned into silence, she decided it had to be her; she briefly glanced warily at Francine before turning her attention to Billy, took a deep breath and said, "Sir, is it possible that Lee and I could speak to you in private." She nodded her head at Francine who was eyeing both her and Lee suspiciously.

"Is there a problem, Amanda?" Billy asked having noticed the silent exchange between Lee and his partner.

When Amanda didn't answer immediately, Lee shifted his gaze from his wife to his boss. "Yes, there's a problem, one that we should discuss without prying eyes around," he said with a pointed look at Francine.

"What's the problem, Lee?"Francine said acerbically. "You just sign your name, she signs hers and it's done. You're a free man again and you can go back to your life of debauchery."

"Debauchery?" Lee questioned. "Is that really how you see my life?"

"If the shoe fits," Francine said. Lee and Amanda glanced at each other and both dissolved into laughter as Francine's words brought back memories of the fight the night before when Amanda had said the same words to him. "What's so funny?"

"Private joke," Lee and Amanda said together causing them to both laugh even harder.

"Come on, Lee, just sign the damn thing and get it over with so I can get it turned in to the legal department."

"No, Francine," Lee said firmly as he balled up the document in his hand and tossed toward Billy's trash can but missed it by scant inches. "No annulment." He then clasped his hand tighter around Amanda's linking his fingers with hers.

The action was not lost on Francine and it caused her to notice that he was still wearing the wedding band. "So, you actually want to stay married to Amanda?" She scoffed incredulously.

"That doesn't sound so bad," Lee said.

"Oh, thank you very much," Amanda said sarcastically, yanking her hand from his.

"Amanda, I didn't mean it that way. I mean, we just talked about this before we came in here."

"I know we did and what you said to me sounds entirely different now..."

"Ok, what's really going on here?" Billy questioned interrupting what he sensed was going to be the start of another of Amanda King's long-winded rambles.

"Sir, if we could just talk to you about this alone..."Amanda began, but Francine cut her off.

"That won't be necessary, Amanda. I do see all the paperwork that crosses Billy's desk. I _am_ his assistant, after all. Besides, I am a highly trained, highly skilled agent. It's not like I couldn't figure out what's going on anyway."

"What exactly _is_ going on," Billy asked.

Lee ran a hand through his hair and sighed in frustration before saying, "What Amanda's trying to tell you is that we can't get an annulment, not legally anyway."

Realization dawned on Billy immediately as he'd always seen the undeniable attraction between the two, Francine, however, didn't catch it. "Sure, you can," she said as she reached for the balled-up document and smoother it out. "It's as simple as just signing the paperwork, as long as the marriage hasn't been consummated." The words were barely out of her mouth when she too realized the truth by the way Lee and Amanda shifted uncomfortably, both blushing furiously as they locked eyes with one another. "Oh, I see. My, Amanda, you really are full of surprises, aren't you? So, Lee, I just have to know, how was it?"

"None of you damn business, Francine," He snapped.

"Oh, that bad, huh?" she said with a withering look at Amanda. "Honeymoon's over already?"

"On the contrary, Francine, it was far from bad and the honeymoon is far from over," he said with a warm smile at Amanda before turning back to Francine, "But as I already said, it's none of your damn business! That is between me and my wife."

"Your wife," Francine said with a chuckle. "I never thought I'd ever hear those words come out of your mouth."

"Would you just knock it off, Francine?"

"Francine, would you give us a minute," Billy said interrupting the pending argument before it could escalate further.

"Fine," she said as she stormed out of Billy's office.

Once she'd left, Billy looked back at them. "So, you do realize this means a divorce? I mean, that is if the two of you want to end it," he added with a knowing grin.

"Um...actually..."Amanda began awkwardly trying to keep tears from welling up again at the prospect of facing the ugliness of another divorce. "We...um..."

Sensing her pain, Lee once again clasped Amanda's hand in his and said, "We've discussed that and while it may happen in the future, we've decided against it for now."

"I see," Billy said. "Any particular reason," he probed.

"Uh...yeah...there is," Lee said.

"There's a...um...a complication," Amanda added.

"Oh? What kind of complication?"Billy inquired. "Or should I even ask?" When they were both silent, he said, "You were reckless."

"Not intentionally," Lee said. "It...um...it was an accident."

"An accident? That you slept together or that you failed to take precautions while doing so?"

Lee glanced at Amanda who was nervously fiddling with the diamond ring with the fingers of her left hand. Not wanting to make her any more uncomfortable he said, "Look, I'd really rather not get into all the details. We talked about it and agreed that until we know for sure, we shouldn't make any hasty decisions about ending it."

"I see, Billy replied, "So, then I shouldn't have Francine call back down to legal to start divorce proceedings?"

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to have them ready, just in case. I mean, if it turns out that we have nothing to worry about," Amanda said hoping against hope that Lee would argue with her and say there was no need for them, that the feelings she'd sensed in him were real, that he'd realize it and want to stay married whether she was carrying his child or not.

Lee looked at her in surprise and a little hurt, but she averted his gaze and didn't seem to notice the pained expression on his face as she had turned so that she was staring straight ahead at Billy. He released his hold on her hand. "Yeah, you know, that's not a bad idea," he said also turning his attention to Billy. If she wasn't going to say anything against it, that must mean that she was only hanging on long enough to find out if their liaison had resulted in a pregnancy, so who was he to argue? He wasn't going to beg her to stay married to him. He'd never begged a woman for anything in his life and he wasn't about to start now. "I mean, like she said, just in case."

At hearing his words, Amanda closed her eyes tightly willing herself not to let him see her cry again, desperately trying to keep the hurt from showing. She opened them again once she felt calm enough and said, "Right, just in case."

Billy looked from one to another, feeling deeply saddened by their assertion that they might need the divorce papers, as he knew that there was more going on than either of them were saying. He could see the hurt and the uncertainty plainly on both of their faces. "Okay," he said the skepticism evident in his tone. "Anything else?'

"Um...yeah," Lee said. "Is it possible that Amanda and I could have a couple of days off? I have a feeling we're going to need it to deal with this."

"I don't see why not," Billy said.

"Thank you, Sir," Amanda said gratefully. That would at least give her a couple of days to avoid Francine's jibes.

"Good," Lee said. He then turned to Amanda and feeling a great need to remind her that they were married said, "So, Mrs. Stetson, what do you say we get out of here? Maybe go grab a bite to eat since the food on the plane left a lot to be desired."

Amanda started slightly at the use of her new name and said, "Yeah that sounds good. I'm starving and we do need to talk some more."

"Good," Lee said as he rose and reached for her hand.

Amanda took his hand, allowed him to help her from her seat and they walked out of the office hand in hand leaving Billy gazing after them wondering if they'd come to their senses before it was too late and what he could do to help them make the right decision. He supposed he could always pile more busy work onto the legal department to delay the divorce proceedings, giving his favorite pair time to realize what they had together. He walked to the door and opened it just in time to hear Lee saying, "Zip it, Francine.

He poked his head out the door and bellowed, "Francine, get in here!" Lee and Amanda both flashed him a grateful smile. He smiled back and waved them on their way, watching them until they were out of sight the turned to his assistant. "I have a project for you," he began.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing. For the reviewers who are registered and logged into the site, you all know that I reply to each of you personally. For those of you only reviewing as guests which the site doesn't allow me to reply to, I also want to say a big thank you to whoever my mystery reviewers are. I hope you like this new chapter.

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When they left the office, Lee guided Amanda to his car and said, "There's this new place called Emelio's that I've wanted to try. You up for it?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," Amanda answered. "I heard they got a rave review in the Post."

"Yeah, they did. That's why I've been meaning to check it out. Just haven't had the time," he said as he unlocked the passenger door of the 'Vette and held it open for her.

"Well, since Billy just gave us the next couple of days off, we've got time now," she said with a smile as she slid into the car, very pleased that Lee wanted to take her somewhere that he'd never been with anyone else.

After closing the door behind her, he walked around, got into the car himself and said, "I did promise you a real date too, so that works out nicely." He smiled at her and leaned across the seat to kiss her softly.

"What was that for," she said in surprise.

Lee looked affronted at her surprise and said, "So, what now that we're back, I'm not allowed to kiss my wife?"

"I didn't say that, I...just...I was just surprised, that's all. I guess I...I just didn't know that you'd want to." Truth be told, she was surprised by more than that. He'd surprised her in how easily he seemed to be able to adapt to calling her his wife. He'd seemed hell-bent on not acknowledging that they were married when they were fighting, but now that they'd decided to stay married, at least for the time being, he seemed to be more comfortable with it, not only now, but when he was talking to Francine, as well. Then there was the fact that he'd called her Mrs. Stetson.

"Well, if you don't want me to, I'll stop," Lee said in irritation as he turned from her and jammed his key in the ignition, turning it over with more force that was necessary.

"No, I don't want you to stop. I like it, a lot, actually. I just figured that now that we're back and the honeymoon is over, that you wouldn't want to kiss me."

"Didn't you hear what I said to Francine? That the honeymoon is_ not_ over?" he said as he backed the 'vette out of its space.

"Oh," Amanda said in realization. "I thought you were just saying that to get to her since she was being such a..."

"A bitch," Lee supplied.

"Well, I don't know that I would say that," Amanda said.

"Well, I would. Let's just call a spade a spade. She was being a bitch, especially to you." His tone softened slightly as he pulled out into the Georgetown traffic and said, "I'm sorry that she did that to you."

"Lee, you don't have to apologize for Francine's behavior. It's not your fault."

"No, it is my fault, in a way," Lee said. "It's really me that she's mad at, ever since I broke up with her. You see, it happened shortly after I met you and even though it had nothing to do with you, in a way she blames you because of it."

"How's that possible? I barely knew you then."

"It's because I used the fact that she nearly got me killed by letting herself be duped by Mrs. Welch as the reason I was breaking up with her. The truth is though, that was just an excuse. The relationship had just run its course and I knew that it wasn't going anywhere. We weren't in love. There was no big future in it. She knew it too; it's just that since we worked together, we were both to chicken to end it because of how it might affect our working relationship. So, when the opportunity came to use something work-related to get out of it...

"You took it," Amanda finished for him with a hint of sadness in her voice as she wondered what work-related excuse he might use on her in the future once he felt their relationship had run its course.

"Yeah," Lee said guiltily. "Ever since then, she's harbored this resentment toward you because you were the one who helped me bust Mrs. Welch's operation and uncovered the fact that Francine had been behind the leak the whole time. If you want my opinion, though, I think she's just mad that I dumped her and not the other way around, even though she knew it was over just as well as I did. She doesn't handle rejection well."

"So, you think she'd have been perfectly happy with things ending between you if she'd been the dumper, not the dumpee?"

"Exactly," Lee answered.

"I can see that," Amanda said with a soft chuckle as Lee pulled the 'vette alongside the curb in front of the restaurant. He quickly got out and ran around to the other side of the car to open Amanda's door for her. "Thank you," she said as he reached for her hand to help her out of the car. "So, that explains a lot about why Francine's been so cold toward me."

"Listen, I don't want to talk about Francine anymore," Lee said. "If we're going to have a proper date, it should be just about us."

"That'd be nice," Amanda said with a warm smile as she clasped his hand and started toward the entrance of the restaurant, but was stopped by Lee's hand tugging on hers.

"Hold on a second," Lee said as he used his hold on her hand to sweep her into her arms and kiss her soundly gleeful to feel her respond by sliding her arms around his neck, inviting him to deepen the kiss. When the lingering kiss finally ended, leaving them both breathless, Lee said, "God, I have wanted to do that since we left the airport."

Amanda smiled and replied, "Well, if you keep that up, we may just have to skip dinner and go straight to dessert."

"Oh? And just what kind of dessert did you have in mind," he said eyes twinkling, his arms still firmly wrapped around her as he locked eyes with her.

"I think you know," she said in a seductive tone. "You said yourself, the honeymoon's not over."

"Yes, I know what I said, but I also said that I wanted to get to know you better and that I was going to take you on a real date and I intend to stand by that, so dinner first, then we'll see where the night takes us."

Later that night as they were leaving the restaurant hand in hand laughing as Lee wrapped up the telling of yet another of his wild stories. "That can't be for real," Amanda said.

"Swear to God," Lee said as they reached his car. He was amazed by how their dinner together had gone. They'd chatted so comfortably with none of the awkwardness of the previous night. It seemed that they hadn't really talked about anything important, just shared tidbits from their lives before they'd met. He'd told stories of his travels with his uncle and later for the agency while she'd shared stories of her college days as a sorority girl prior to meeting her ex, then told tales about the boys when they were little.

"Are you sure you're not exaggerating just a little," Amanda teased relishing the warmth of his hand in hers and the light, easy conversation they'd had over dinner which had held none of the prior night's tension.

"Ok, maybe just a little," he said with a smile. "But I'll tell you something that I'm not exaggerating about and that's that I was serious when I said I wanted to get to know you, _really_ know you."

"I think we've made some progress in that area," Amanda said returning his smile as she squeezed his hand affectionately.

"So, how did you like the restaurant?"

"I'd say they lived up to their reviews. Dinner was just wonderful," Amanda said, her smile glowing. "But now," she stepped closer to him sliding her free hand up to his shoulder, "I'm ready for dessert." Before he could say another word, she pressed her lips to his and moved her hand up to his neck to pull him in.

Lee's response was to wrap his free arm around her waist, pulling her fully against him as they kissed hungrily, her mouth opening beneath his inviting him in further. He took her invitation for what it was, sliding his tongue into her mouth, tasting her sweetness combined with the sweetness of the wine they'd had with dinner. Kissing her made him feel like he was high on some drug that hadn't yet been named. He felt like he was drowning in her. When lack of oxygen forced him to retreat, he pulled back just slightly. The blazing desire he saw in her eyes shocked him to his core, as he never thought he'd see that coming from her. "Amanda...I..."

"Yes?" she said expectantly.

Lee blushed a little at the fact that he'd almost laid it all on the line. "Um...I...I...uh just wanted to know when is you mother expecting you back? How soon do I have to take you home?"

"Not until tomorrow," Amanda said. "As for taking me home, that's up to you. Do you take me back to my house and surprise my mother a day early or..."

"Or?"Lee questioned in anticipation hoping she'd say what he wanted to hear.

"Or do you take me home with you?"

"Do you want me to take you home with me?" he asked with a mirthful grin.

"Well, how else am I going to get my dessert?" she said suggestively. "It's not like I haven't slept in your bed before."

"You had amnesia then," Lee pointed out.

"I never told you this, but even when I couldn't remember you, when I took that little nap in your bed, I dreamed about you," she confessed.

Lee shook his head and wondered if she would ever stop surprising him. "But we weren't a couple then," Lee said.

"Are you saying we _are_ a couple now," Amanda asked.

"Aren't we?" He said he said gazing at her intently. When she didn't reply, just continued to stare at him questioningly, his defenses turned back to what he was comfortable with, humor. "I seem to remember some definite coupling action going on last night." He gave her his best rakish grin as he said this. "Besides, like you said last night, being married is about as attached as it gets, right?"

"Yes, I did say that and I meant it. I just didn't think it registered with you," she said.

"Oh, it registered, believe me, it did. Why do you think I was so damn angry when you made that crack about no girls? I know we didn't plan to get married, but whether we planned it or not, we _did_ get married and we agreed to stay married for a while. That means that I'm going to be living up to my promise to be faithful to you."

"Good," Amanda said shivering under the intensity of his gaze.

"Come on, we should get out of the cold," Lee said. "January in DC isn't as warm as it is in San Angelo."

"I don't know," Amanda said unable to resist getting to him again. "I was feeling pretty warm a few minutes ago."

"Well, maybe we should go back to my place so I can warm you up some more," he said suggestively.

"Exactly what I was thinking," Amanda said with a warm smile, then added in a seductive tone. "In fact, now that we're back and we've talked some more, I'm thinking that DC could end up being a whole lot hotter than San Angelo."

"You think so?" Lee said in an equally seductive tone.

Amanda's response was to use the hand that was still hooked behind his neck to pull him to her for another long, lingering kiss. When this kiss ended, she gazed up at him and said, "Don't you?"

"Most definitely hotter," Lee said as he opened the car door for her and helped her in. As he walked around to his side of the "vette, he thought that as long as it lasted, he was going to very much enjoy being married to her. He shook his head in surprise at that thought, but smiled nonetheless. Just before getting into the car, he glanced at her through the window and wondered what he could do to talk her into making it permanent.


	9. Chapter 9

When they arrived at Lee's apartment, he began unloading his luggage from their trip and was surprised to find Amanda reaching for one of her own suitcases. "What are you doing?" he inquired.

"Well, if I'm going to spend the night here, I should have some clothes to put on in the morning."

"Oh, right," Lee said. "I don't know though. I'd be perfectly happy if you had nothing to wear." He smiled at her alluringly earning her a sound smack on the arm from her.

"I just bet you would," she said with a grin. She was teasing him, but the truth was she felt the same way about him. As they entered his apartment together, Amanda was surprised to find how clean it was compared to the way that she'd seen it in the last time she'd been there. She looked at him quizzically as they set their luggage down.

"Don't give me that look," Lee said. "I always like to clean the place up before I go out of town for any great length of time because I don't like to come home to it being messy."

"I don't seem to remember you doing that that one time when you begged me to come over here and feed your fish while you were away," she countered.

"Ok, not always, but most of the time. I'm not always the slob you seem to think I am," he argued.

"Just looking at the evidence," Amanda said mirthfully. "Isn't that what a good agent is supposed to do?"

"Very cute. What, are you disappointed that you don't get to lecture me yet again on my lack of housekeeping skills and get that nagging wife thing started already?" he teased.

"Nagging? I will have you know that when I was married the first time, I was never a nagging wife," Amanda fired back.

"How could you be? The way I understand it, he was never around enough to be nagged, not that I really have much to base it on other than your background check since you refuse to talk about it."

"Weren't you the one who said that since this was our first real date that tonight should be just about you and me?"

"You know I hate it when you throw my own words back in my face," he said with a chuckle, but he had to admit that she was right. Now was not the time to talk about their past. Now was the time to focus on their future and if they were going to have one together. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No," she answered as she turned to face him, lightly caressed his face and added, "What I want right now is you." She stepped closer to him and brushed a soft kiss against his lips.

Lee pulled back from her slightly, clasped her hands in his and said, "There's plenty of time for that. It's still early. I think we should talk first."

"You don't think we talked enough at dinner?"

"We did talk a lot, but not about the things that were important. We have a lot of serious stuff to talk about, the stuff that's happened. This is life-altering."

_Here it comes, _Amanda thought with a deep sigh, _the speech about how we're not involved. _Amanda felt her frustration growing. After his lovely talk earlier about how they were a couple, it seemed he'd changed his mind again now that they were alone together. "I realize that, but you said the honeymoon's not over yet, so why don't we table the deep discussion for another time."

"No, Amanda, there is no other time. You're going back home to your children tomorrow and I'll be here alone again and I think we need to discuss it now."

Amanda sighed again and said, "You know, I think I will take that drink now."

"What? What did I say that was so wrong that's got you looking at me like I'm the biggest heel in the world?" Lee released her hands and ran them through his hair in frustration. "You know, I have dated a lot of damn women, women who've made me absolutely crazy, but you, Amanda King, are the most maddening!"

"Amanda King?"She questioned. "What happened to Mrs. Stetson?"

"Good question. After the talk we had this morning before we went into to Billy's office, I thought that maybe, just maybe, you thought like I do, that we might have a shot at actually making this work, making it stick, but then you had to go and ask Billy to get divorce papers drawn up anyway! Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because I thought that was what you wanted. You were the one who initially said you wanted out of this, that you didn't want to be married to anyone, especially me!"

"First of all, I never said especially you and second, that was before we made love and maybe even made a baby! Don't you get that this changes things between us forever?"

"Of course, I do! God, why do you think I'm so terrified? I've already been divorced once and it breaks my heart at the thought of going through that all over again!"

"Well, it breaks my heart at the thought of my kid growing up without me! If anyone knows how important it is for a kid to have two loving parents around, it's me!"

"So, then I was right all along. You do only want to stay married because I might be pregnant?"

"No, and I really wish you would stop saying that."

"Well, then why didn't you say anything when I asked Billy about getting divorce papers ready?"

"Because I figured if you were asking for them, that that's what you wanted." Lee once again ran a hand through his hair, took a deep breath then said, "Listen, this kind of stuff is exactly why I think we need to talk, but why don't we get unpacked first? That'll give us both some time to cool down, think about things and then was can have that talk."

"Talking wasn't exactly at the top of my to-do list when we came here," Amanda teased him in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I know," he said in a much softer tone. "But I think we really need to. If we have that talk and can still stand the sight of each other when it's done, then maybe we'll get to the rest." He leaned in and kissed her softly.

"Yeah, ok," she said with a smile still amazed at how just a simple kiss from him could send her reeling. She slid her arms up his chest to his shoulders and kissed him lightly before sliding her arms up further and liking her hands behind his neck.

Lee knew exactly what she was trying to do and gently removed her hands from his neck, clasping his hands with hers. "Hey, not right now. It's not that I don't want to. I love kissing you, but..."

Amanda sighed. "I know. We need to talk," she said dreading where the conversation might go. She pulled her hands from his and picked up her discarded suitcase, and made her way to his bedroom, Lee following right behind her.

"The second drawer should be empty," Lee said with a gesture toward the chest of drawers against the wall as he dropped his luggage on the bed. "You can use it to put your stuff in."

"Thanks," Amanda said with a smile as she pulled open the drawer he'd indicated and found it was indeed empty. She began unpacking, but then paused in her task to look at him with a glowing smile on her face for his thoughtfulness in giving her a place, at least temporarily to put her things in.

"What?" he said off the look she was giving him.

"Nothing, I was just thinking that it was nice of you to let me use your dresser for my clothes," she said still smiling broadly.

"Well, it's yours for as long as you want it," he said smiling back. "I mean, after all, you're my wife. If I'm going to get used to this husband thing then that means sharing space, right?"

"It does, but traditionally that's done by a newly-married couple moving in together," Amanda said.

"Are you saying you want to move in?" He asked in a teasing tone, but with an underlying seriousness behind it.

"I can't exactly do that, Lee," Amanda said. "I have children at home, but you know, that's just one of the things that we should talk about. I mean, if it turns out that I am pregnant and we do end up staying together...p-p-permanently, then that means living together full-time. The best solution would be for you to move in with me, not the other way around."

"Are you asking me to move in with you?" he asked all teasing aside.

Amanda hesitated and blushed slightly now that she realized how that statement sounded. "I...I...I...um...just think that's the more logical solution if I am pregnant, I mean. How else would we raise our child together like you suggested if we're living across town from each other?"

"I've got a better idea," Lee said. "How about instead of one of us moving in with the other, we look for a new place, one that's not yours or mine, but that would be ours from the start? I don't know about you, but I'm not too keen on the idea of living with you in a house that you and your ex bought together. I think if we're going to do this right, it should be in a place that's free of baggage from both of our pasts. "

"Wow, I hadn't thought of that," Amanda said lost in thought for a moment. Was he really taking their marriage seriously now? He certainly seemed to be, but if that were the case, why wouldn't he own up to the feelings that she knew he had for her? She could see it in his eyes every time that he looked at her, but he wouldn't actually spit out the words. She had so many questions she wanted to ask him about it, but instead she said, "Speaking of baggage, we should..." she nodded at the half-unpacked suitcases.

"Yeah, you're right," Lee said as he quickly turned back to the task of unpacking in an attempt to hide his disappointment that she'd dodged his suggestion of them finding a place of their own.

Amanda quickly finished unpacking her suitcase then turned to her overnight case and opened it. "Do you have room for this stuff too?"She asked gesturing at the toiletries inside it.

"Yeah, there should be plenty of room in the bathroom," Lee said grateful for the temporary distraction from his brooding. He finished unpacking his own suitcases while he listened to the sounds of Amanda rattling around in the bathroom, leaving only the garment bag to unpack. He was just unzipping it and was gazing at Amanda's frilly wedding dress as Amanda emerged from the bathroom, unnoticed by him. He lifted it gently from the bag, smiled as he gazed at it and recalled how beautiful she'd looked in it and the soft kisses they'd shared after reciting their vows.

Amanda stood as watched him for a moment wondering what he was thinking with the way he was staring at the over-priced confection of satin and lace. The smile on his face had her puzzled. It was the look of someone mentally reliving a happy memory, but she still couldn't fathom why he couldn't put into words what he was really feeling. "Penny for your thoughts," she said and couldn't help but chuckle as he started at the sound of her voice.

"A penny doesn't get you much these days," he quipped. When she gave him her patented don't-change-the-subject glare, he said, "I was just thinking about how beautiful you looked wearing this."

"Yeah?" Amanda said with slight flush rising in her cheeks.

"Yeah," he said with a warm smile.

"Well, you looked pretty good yourself yesterday in this," she said as she lifted out his tuxedo from the bag.

"You think so," He asked.

"Yeah," she said as she moved to hang it in the closet and was startled to feel him right behind her. He reached around her to hang her dress beside his tux, the slight contact making her shiver. She turned to face him and found herself once again locking eyes with him.

Lee swallowed hard as seeing the intense look at Amanda's eyes, feeling her so close to him again. He wanted so badly to close the very small gap between them, take her in his arms and..., however, if he did, then they wouldn't have the talk that he desperately wanted them to have. Instead, he settled for a chaste kiss, and then said, "How about that drink now?" He then quickly made his way out of the room before all his willpower left him.

Amanda sighed, and lifted her fingers to her lips where's Lee's kiss had been all-too fleeting. She had no choice but to follow him. She slowly made her way out of the bedroom, trying to mentally steel herself for the tense conversation she knew was to come. By the time she got there, she found that Lee had already uncorked a bottle of wine and was in the process of pouring two glasses. He handed her one of them. "Thanks," she said as she took a sip and sat on the couch.

Lee quickly took a seat next to her and said, "I know this isn't exactly why you wanted to come home with me tonight, but I think it's necessary. While we may have told Billy the truth, we still have a lot to talk about."

"For instance?" Amanda said as she nervously sipped her wine.

"For instance, I have to take you home some time tomorrow, so what do we say to your mom and the kids?"

Amanda looked at him in confusion and said, "I thought we already agreed that we'd just tell them we're dating until we know for sure if we've got a baby on the way or not."

"That was one suggestion, but I didn't think we'd actually decided for sure that that was what we were going to do. I think we need to stop focusing so much on the baby thing and just focus on our marriage. I know how much you hate lying to your mom and I think we should just tell her the truth or at least as much of the truth as we can without giving the agency away."

"I don't know, Lee," Amanda said warily as she took another sip of her wine. "I told Mother I was going on assignment for IFF, I didn't tell her I'd be bringing her back a son-in-law."

Lee chuckled softly as Amanda's words struck a chord with him. Dotty West was now his mother-in-law. "Well, your mother thinks you make documentary films, right? We could use that to our advantage, tell her that we were doing an expose on these "love boat" cruises and to get our story, we had to play the part."

"You mean, like undercover reporters or something?"Amanda said. Lee nodded. "I suppose that could work and we could tell her that in order to not blow our cover, we had to get married, which is pretty close to the truth."

"I think that's the best plan," Lee said.

"Except for one thing," she said. "What if it turns out that I'm not pregnant?"

"Would just forget about that for now?" Lee snapped in irritation. "I don't care if you're pregnant or not."

"You don't?" Amanda said hopefully.

"What I mean is that we should just take it one day at a time and not make plans to end things. We're married now and we have to deal with it. It's going to be awhile before we can find out anyway, so I say we just enjoy the time we have together and stop all this talk of divorce. You said yourself that the idea of another divorce is heart-breaking to you, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did. And it is, but that doesn't mean that we should...Oh, I don't know what all this means. I mean, I believe in you. I always have and if you think that we might have a shot at making it real, making it last, I want to believe in you again, but I..."

"You what, Amanda," Lee prodded.

"I'm scared," she admitted. "What if we try and we fail miserably? Then things can never go back to the way they were and I'll have lost my best friend."

"As it is, things can never go back to the way they were. Don't you get that? I don't want to lose you as my friend either, but I also don't want to lose you as..." _my wife, _he thought, but couldn't quite bring himself to say the words to her. "Aw, hell, Amanda, I just don't want to lose you, period."

Amanda's heart leapt at his words and she said softly, "You don't?"

"Well, you've become an important part of my life, even before the impromptu wedding and I want to give us a chance. What's the worst that could happen? It doesn't work out and we go right back to the idea of a divorce, but I think we'd be stupid not to at least try."

Once again, Amanda sighed. She looked at the longing gaze on his face and said, "You're right. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

"That's my girl," he said with an affectionate smile.

"I'm your girl?" she questioned.

"Absolutely; You _are_ my wife, after all," he said as he took the wine glass from her hand, setting it and his own on the coffee table, before pulling her into his arms and kissing her soundly.


	10. Chapter 10

Amanda's head was reeling at the heady sensations created by Lee's arms wrapped around her, his lips pressed against hers. She kicked her heels off and climbed into his lap, never breaking their kiss as she wrapped herself around him, the desire that had been building all night only escalating as their kisses became more heated and she felt Lee's hands working at the buttons on her blouse. Before she knew it, her blouse was being pulled from her shoulders and he'd pulled back from their kiss to gaze at her.

"God, you're beautiful," he croaked in a husky passion-filled voice before capturing her lips with his own again as he deftly unhooked her bra, sliding it down her arms and tossing it aside.

They kissed fervently for another long moment before Amanda pulled back and loosened his tie and pushed his suit jacket from his shoulders, both articles soon joining he blouse on the floor as she then shifted to work on the buttons of his dress shirt while his stepped out of his shoes. Lee sighed in contentment as Amanda's hands roamed his now-bared chest. "This is something we didn't get to do on our wedding night," Amanda said as she gazed appreciatively at her husband's well-muscled torso.

"What's that," Lee said.

"Undress each other," she purred in his ear as she lowered her lips to his neck.

"No, I guess we didn't," He replied, his breathing becoming heavier at the feelings his wife's lips on his skin were invoking. He quickly shrugged out of his shirt and pulled her more firmly against him crushing her breasts against his bare chest. "We were already undressed from the shower, except for the hotel robes." He nipped at the tender skin at her neck while she still teased his and he slid his hands down her back to the zipper on her skirt sliding it down inch by inch and felt her reaching for his belt buckle. "Let's take this to the bedroom," He said as he rose from the couch, pulling her with him as he pushed her skirt to the floor leaving her standing there in just her panties.

"One more thing first," she said kissing him again as she finished the job she'd started on his pants pushing them down to the floor to join her skirt.

He stepped out of his pants, kicked them aside, then lifted his bride into his arms and carried her to the bed, laying her gently on its surface before lying atop her, and pulling her to him again as they kissed feverishly. He pulled back once more to look deeply into her eyes and said, "Amanda, you have no idea what you do to me," as he pressed his body into hers.

"Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea," she said with a sultry smile as she hooked one leg over his hips, raising her own hips, getting more excited as she felt the evidence of his desire for her. She once again nipped at his neck and whispered softly in his ear, "Make love to me."

Lee pulled away from her just long enough to slide her panties down her long legs and toss them aside, and then discard his own underwear, leaving no more barriers between them. "One more thing first," he said repeating her words from the living room as he reached into the nightstand drawer and pulled out the box of condoms he kept there.

"Oh, right," she said. "We shouldn't take any more chances. Not until we're sure this is going to last."

"Right," Lee said agreeing with her logic, but at the same time a little disappointed by the way she'd phrased it. It didn't deter him though, condom or no condom, nothing was going to stop him from making love to his wife tonight. He resumed his position on the bed, kissing her tenderly, then moved his lips to her neck, lightly nipping at the tender spot that he'd already learned from the night before made her squirm. He was not disappointed when the contact made her squeal in delight. He paused for a moment to gaze into her eyes and found himself once again startled by the smoldering passion he saw in them. The look she was giving him made it evident that even if she didn't love him, she most definitely wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her. He again placed a tender, teasing kiss to her lips, then lowered his lips to her neck again, barely brushing his lips against her skin, teasing her mercilessly as he trailed the same barely-there kisses down to her shoulder, her chest, his mouth hovering just over the mound of one breast,

"Lee, please," Amanda gasped, his warm breath on her skin making her crazy as she longed for him to touch her.

'Please, what," he murmured low against her skin as he lightly ran his hands down her side to her hip, only grazing her skin with just his fingertips. He knew he was being unnecessarily cruel, but he couldn't help the need that he felt to make her beg for him the way she was on the verge of making him beg for her. He reached out with the tip of his tongue to her nipple, placing just the merest of touches there.

"Please..." she panted in a raspy, increasingly frustrated tone as she used her hands to tug at his head.

Lee growled in frustration himself at still not hearing what he wanted to hear from Amanda. He reached for her hands, pinned them above her head, fixed her with a steely gaze, and he said, "Tell me what you want, Amanda."

"You _know_ what I want," Amanda pleaded with him as she tried to free her hands from his grasp, but it was no use. He held them tightly in his own, not giving an inch.

"I want to hear you say it," Lee growled low, his eyes never leaving hers as he pressed himself against her, making sure that she could feel just how much he wanted her, how much he needed her.

She gasped again at the boldness of his latest maneuver, at the feeling of his obvious erection grinding against her, so close, yet so far away. She felt him once again moving his hips against her, imitating the action that she so longed for, but he was keeping from her. "Please, Lee, don't tease me anymore."

"Say it, Amanda!" he demanded as shifted slightly to hold both of her hands in just one of his, lowering the other hand to her hip to pull it flush with his, making damn sure that she couldn't deny his desire for her.

Amanda cried out again at his action, pushing her hips upward against him to encourage him to finish what he'd started. When he still only continued to tease her, she finally said, "I...I want you, I want _all_ of you, I want to kiss me, I want you to touch me, I...I...I want you inside me."

"That's all I wanted to hear," Lee said as he gave her a satisfied smirk, released her hands and began a new assault on her mouth with his own. This time there was no teasing involved as he relentlessly plundered her mouth with his tongue, his hands exploring her lithe body, delighting her eager responses, in hearing her cry out her pleasure as he touched her. When he pulled back from their kiss, he wasted no time in lowering his mouth to other parts of her body, trailing hot open-mouthed kisses down her chest, lingering on one breast for a moment, taking the nipple in his mouth and causing her to cry out his name before he moved further down. He paused for a moment as he took in the sight of her flat stomach and thought how impossible it seemed that she'd given birth to two children with only the faint marks left behind. That thought made him wonder once again what her body had looked like when she'd carried them, what it would look like if she were carrying his child. He pressed his lips to the faded stretch marks there as the thought that his child may be growing beneath the surface of the slightly marred skin continued through his mind. He then moved further downward, gleeful at hearing her crying out again.

"Oh, Lee," Amanda cried out in pleasure as he stroked her with his tongue. She clutched his head to her, her fingers tangling in her hair, her breath now coming out in shallow pants as he brought her to her peak leaving her shuddering beneath him.

Lee raised his head to look at her once more, wearing a smug grin as he reached for the box on the nightstand, plucking a condom out of it. "Is that what you wanted?" He waved it in her face and then asked, "Or do you still want more?"

"Yes," Amanda said breathlessly reaching for him and pulling him to her, "And yes."

"That's what I thought," he said with a cheeky smile. He quickly and expertly sheathed himself in the latex before fully immersing himself in her. "Oh, Amanda," he involuntarily cried out at the feeling of being inside her again. In all the time they'd been together, he'd never imagined that _really_ being with her could make him feel more complete than he'd ever felt before. He clasped on hand with hers, placing the other on her hip as he pushed himself deeper into her and cried out again at her pushing her hips up against him invitingly.

"Lee," she cried out as she closed her eyes against the onslaught of sensation, "Oh, Lee!"

Lee raised his hand from her hip to her face, cupped it in his and said, "Don't close your eyes, Amanda. I want you to look at me when I make love to you." He then linked that hand with her free one.

Amanda opened her eyes and was startled to see the intense, burning gaze in his as he withdrew from her only to push back in again. They locked eyes and not another word was spoken as they moved together, pushing against one another, their hands clasped tightly, their fingers interwoven with one another's, her legs locked around his hips. The only sounds in the room now were the sounds of their heavy breathing and their mutual cries of pleasure until they were both spent and calling out each other's names. In the aftermath of his release, Lee found it impossible to maintain his eye contact with her. It was just too...intense. He collapsed atop her, brushing soft kisses against her face, and her hair before burying his face in her neck and softly murmuring against her skin, "I love you."

Amanda's heart leapt. Had Lee really said the words that she'd been longing to hear? The sound was so muffled because of his head being burrowed against her neck and her thick hair that she couldn't quite tell. She hoped that she had and that it wasn't just her mind playing tricks on her because that was what she so desperately wanted to hear. She wrapped her arms around his head, cradling him to her, wondering if he'd really said those three little words and if he had, did he mean them or was it just done in the heat of the moment? She needed to know, but was afraid to ask. What if it was just her own longing making her think he'd said something that he hadn't actually said? She peppered the side of his face with tiny, fervent kisses, hoping to get him to say it again so she could be sure that she wasn't just imagining it. When his only response was to roll away from her, she sighed in frustration, both at getting no response and at the loss of his nearness. "Lee?" she said softly reaching out for him.

"Gimme a second, while I take care of..."he indicated the used condom as he turned from her to take care of business.

"Right," she said with a nod, but she couldn't help the disappointment that flooded through her. Suddenly feeling chilled with him no longer with her, she pulled the covers back and burrowed beneath them just as Lee, having completed his task turned back toward her.

"You cold?"He said.

"Just a little," she said then added with a saucy grin, "I seem to remember somebody promising to keep me warm tonight."

Lee smiled back at her. "So, I did," he said as he slid into bed with her and pulled her to him. "Better?"He asked as he brushed a soft kiss to her temple.

"Much," She said as she laid her head on his chest a snuggled into his arms.

"Good," He replied as he kissed her softly trying to shake off the disappointment he felt that she hadn't responded to his declaration of love. He could have sworn he'd seen the same love in her eyes when they'd made love, but now he wasn't so sure. "We've only been married a day. I can't start breaking promises to you already," he teased.

"Oh, Stop," Amanda said as she playfully slapped at him, but he caught her hand in his, pressing a kiss to it catching sight of the wedding set she still wore.

"These look good on you," he said as he idly fiddled with the diamond of the engagement ring.

"Yeah, it's just too bad I won't be wearing them for much longer," she said sadly.

Lee's eyes flared at her words. "You've got to be kidding me, Amanda. After all we talked about, after we just...after I..." he paused, not wanting to bring up the "L" word again. "...You still want to talk about divorce?"

"No, Lee, I didn't say that. That's not what I want."

"Then why would you say something like that? About not wearing the rings for long?"

"Because they're not mine," she said. "They're going to have to be turned back into the agency inventory before long."

"Oh," Lee said visibly relaxing. "Actually they won't. These don't belong to the agency."

"The ones you bought for Eva?" she questioned that thought making her feel even worse than if they were agency issue.

"No, I never actually bought a ring for Eva. We never got that far. No, these rings are mine. They belonged to my mother."

Amanda glanced at their joined hands and the shining rings there, a lump forming in her throat at the thought that she was wearing his deceased mother's rings, "Your mother?"

"Yeah, one of the few things I have left of my parents. I've always hung on to them and my dad's," he said as he shifted slightly to indicate the ring on his own finger.

"Oh," Amanda said thoughtfully. "So, shouldn't these have been saved for a woman that you actually _wanted_ to marry?"

"In a way, they were," he said, regaining his courage. "I may have said that I never planned to get married, but if I _were_ going to plan to marry anyone, I'd want it to be you. So, not more talk that these rings aren't yours. They _are_ yours for as long as you want them."

"Oh, that's...that's really very sweet," she said with a watery smile as she kissed him softly, trying to convey in that kiss just how deeply moved she was by the gesture and trying to tell him just how much she felt for him.

Lee sighed at the pressure of her lips on his, still awed by just how much a simple kiss from her could stir him. He pulled her to lie on his chest, tugging on the back of her head, tangling his fingers in her hair as he deepened the kiss reveling in the feeling of having her so close to him for as long as he could, knowing that all too soon, that feeling was going to end. He knew that because of her obligations to her family that she couldn't stay here with him indefinitely. When they kiss broke, he was startled at once more seeing tears glistening in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she replied. "Absolutely nothing. I'm...I'm just so happy." She kissed him again and threaded her finger through his hair pressing herself more firmly against him, wanting to savor every moment that they had together for as long it lasted.

Their fervent kissing led to another round of tender lovemaking that left them both too exhausted to move and they drifted off to sleep in each other's arms both wearing satisfied smiles on their faces.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning, Amanda was the first to awaken; she yawned and stretched slowly as she tried to get her bearings. In her semi-wakened state, she was slightly startled by opening her eyes to the strange surroundings and her state of undress. She glanced to her right to find Lee sleeping beside her and was hit full-force by the memories of the past two nights of sharing a bed with him, wishing fervently that she'd never have to spend a night sleeping alone again. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she sighed, as she knew it couldn't happen. Her family had never met him and while they'd joked about the idea of moving in together, she knew that it wasn't possible. While Lee had come up with a great plan to tell her mother some semblance of the truth, how would she explain it to her children? They were only eleven and nine. What could she possibly say to them to make them understand why she'd brought a new man into their lives unexpectedly? They were better off with the dating idea, though she desperately hated the idea of lying to them when she'd always tried to teach them to be honest, she felt like a complete hypocrite.

"Penny for your thoughts," Lee murmured sleepily, echoing her words of the night before as he snaked his arm around her waist and brushed a soft kiss to her temple.

Amanda started at the unexpected contact. She'd been so focused on her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed that he was awake. She turned on her side to face him, kissed him softly and said, "I was just thinking that we're going to have to figure out what to tell my family."

"I thought we already had," Lee said. "You know, using the film cover as an explanation for our sudden marriage."

"Yeah, and it's a great idea that you had," she said beaming at him with pride in him for his ability to think on his feet. "But while that make work on my mother to explain our marriage, she's still going to have a million questions."

"Then we'll answer them," Lee said firmly, "the best that we can anyway."

"Ok, but what about the boys? Jamie just turned nine a little over a month ago and Phillip's not quite twelve. They're not going to understand suddenly having a new dad..." she paused at the startled look on Lee's face, and re-phrased, "...step-dad, I mean."

"Yeah, I hadn't thought of that," Lee said worriedly. He let out a deep breath as the thought of the overwhelming responsibility that came with his marriage to Amanda. As much as he wanted to be with her and had discovered after two mornings in a row of waking up next to her, how much he liked it, he wasn't sure that he was ready to be a full-time father-figure to two impressionable young boys. "How about we play that one by ear? We give your mom the story we talked about and we figure out what to do with the kids later. Maybe your mom can even come up with a suggestion or two for how to deal with the kids."

"Maybe," Amanda said.

Lee glanced at the clock, "Ok, it's nine o'clock now. They're in school until three, right?"

"3:45," Amanda corrected him.

"Okay, that gives us plenty of time to break the new to your mother and try to figure out what to tell them by the time they get out of school," Lee said.

"You make it sound so easy, but they've never met you," Amanda protested.

"So, we'll wing it," Lee said.

"That may work on a case, but I'm not going to 'wing it' with my children," Amanda argued.

"Well, how about this? We don't tell them that we're married, we just tell them the original plan, that we're dating."

Amanda sighed, "That means lying to them and I don't want to do that either."

"Then what do you suggest? As you said, they've never met me. You know them better than I do. What do you think they can handle?"

"If we're going to tell my mother that we're married, she won't keep it to herself for long, so we'd have to tell them too," Amanda pointed out.

"What's so wrong with that? We _are_ married."

"But what if we don't stay married? They've already been through so much. I don't want them to witness me going through another divorce and I definitely don't want them to get attached to yet another man who may just disappear from their lives."

"You mean, like their father," Lee said hoping that it would get her talking about her ex so that he could understand why she was so reluctant to really let him in.

"Not just him, but Dean too," Amanda answered. "They were so sure that I was going to marry him and when I didn't and he was just gone, they had a hard time adjusting, especially Jamie. He was so little when Joe left for the first time and then when Dean left he...it was bad. I can't put him through that again."

"So, don't. Why are you talking about divorce again anyway?"He said his eyes flaring. "I thought we agreed to table that discussion for the time being."

"I know what we talked about last night and what you said and it was all very sweet and incredibly romantic, but let's be realistic here. While we care about each other and we're obviously attracted to each other, we are from two different worlds and it is going to take a lot of work to blend those two worlds. If you are serious about this and about trying to make this work, make us work, then you're going to have to be patient with me. I'm not like you. You don't have any attachments. I do. I have a lot of baggage that comes with me and that may be something that you decide is too much for you to deal with."

Lee hauled himself out of bed angrily, reaching for his discarded boxers and yanking them on. He then turned on her and said, "So, what? You're not even going to let me try to deal with it? Is that it? You're so damn sure that we're doomed to failure that you're not even willing to try?"

"I didn't say that," Amanda protested.

"It sure as hell sounded like it. It sounds like you're just ready to give up on us before we even have a chance to get started. What happened to what you said last night about believing in me? Don't you trust me after all we've been through?"

"Lee, I trust you with my life," Amanda said soothingly as she approached him slowly.

"Just not your kids' lives, is that it?"

"Of course, I trust you with their lives. Look at how many times you've protected them."

"Then what is it, Amanda? You don't trust me with your heart?" he asked.

Amanda pulled on her robe and placed her hands on his shoulders, kissed him softly and said, "I trust you. I...I just don't trust me, ok. I think that maybe I'm not cut out for marriage. My first one fell apart, after all."

"But why? I don't get that. Are you saying your divorce was your fault? I don't' buy that," he said his tone a little calmer now that she'd at least partially explained where her fear was coming from. He slid his arms around her waist and said, "I think he was the one not cut out for marriage if he left a woman like you behind."

"You don't know all the details," Amanda said.

"So, enlighten me," Lee said as he pulled back from her and folded his arms across his chest.

"No, Lee, there's no point in rehashing the past. I just want us to focus on the future," she said as she once again rested her arms on his shoulders. "Please, don't ask me again. I really don't want to talk about it."

"How can we focus on the future if your past is holding us back?"

"Why don't we talk about your past?"Amanda challenged him.

"Sure, what do you wanna' know?" he fired back.

"Well, you never did tell me how you got the code name, Scarecrow," Amanda reminded him.

"NO," Lee said with a shake of his head.

"Why not?"

"Because that is about work and you refusing to talk about your ex is not."

"Lee, I think you and I both know that is just not true. You have some deeply personal reason for not sharing that part of your life that has nothing to do with work."

"Ok, maybe I do, but if you want me to trust you with that, you're going to have to start trusting me with some personal stuff too."

"Which brings us back to what I said earlier," Amanda said. "That I need you to be patient with me. My divorce was very painful for me and it's not something that I can talk about easily. I get the sense that whatever happened surrounding your code name is just as painful for you, so I'll make you a deal. If you'll be patient with me on my stuff, I'll be patient with you on yours. Does that sound fair?"

"Yeah," Lee said finally dropping his arms to his sides unable to argue with her logic. He shook his head and said with a chuckle, "You and that damned logical mind of yours." He planted a quick kiss to her lips.

"You can do better than that," she said, snaking her arms around his neck to pull him in for another much deeper kiss and was tickled to feel his arms around her waist pulling her closer.

Lee groaned at the feelings kissing his bride were invoking in him and was just about to lower her to the bed when they were interrupted by a loud pounding on the door. "Crap!" Lee grumbled.

"Maybe if you ignore it, whoever it is will go away." No sooner were the words out of her mouth than there was another loud pounding on the door.

"Maybe not," Lee said testily as he made his way to the door getting madder by the minute that his time with Amanda had been interrupted. "Somebody better be dead!" He shouted as he yanked open the door.

"Nothing's dead around here, but my social life," Francine snapped as she pushed her way past him and into the apartment. Lee sighed and shut the door as Francine pointed an accusing finger at him. "And do you know why, because of you!

"Me? Francine, I haven't had anything to do with your social life in well over a year or have you forgotten?"

"Don't flatter yourself! I didn't mean it in that way. I am so over that. In fact, I was over you long before you dumped me like yesterday's garbage!"

"Then what's this all about?"

"I had the most amazing date planned last night with a senator, tickets to the Kennedy and I had to break it because I was at the agency almost all night, all because of you and your inability to put a muzzle on your libido!"

"I still don't see what this had to do with me."

"You slept with Amanda, Lee! You married her, which I get you had no choice in to maintain your cover, but how could you sleep with her?"

"You act like it's a crime to sleep with my wife," he said his eyes dancing in amusement.

"Wife? Right, like you really think of her that way."

"You see this, Francine," He said holding up his left hand displaying the wedding band he still wore. "That means that I do think of her that way."

"Oh? Then explain this?" she said gesturing to his half-undressed state. "Or how about this?" she said as she picked up a black lacy bra from the floor. "What do you think that your wholesome _wife _would say if she knew that just twenty-four hours after you said "I do" you were here with come cheap bimbo?"

"I'm hardly cheap, Francine," Amanda said as she entered the room, "And definitely not a bimbo."

Francine stood there in stunned silence at Amanda wearing only a robe, her eyes widening as Amanda slipped her arms around Lee from behind and planted a soft kiss to his back.

Lee turned and slid his arms to her waist, "Amanda, let me deal with this."

"You sure?" she said.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I've got it covered." He kissed her softly.

"Ok, well, I'm just going to go jump in the shower then," Amanda said.

Francine finally finding her voice said acidly, "Shower of shame?"

"No, Francine," Amanda replied coolly. "That would mean that I have something to be ashamed of and I don't."

Lee smiled at Amanda's quick reply. "You go on," Lee said before the barbs could escalate. "I'll be in there to join you in a minute." He kissed her tenderly again then turned back to Francine.

"If you don't mind, Francine, that's mine," Amanda said snatching her bra from the other woman's grasp.

"Interesting," Francine said archly. "It's not exactly your style."

"Unless you've been snooping in my lingerie drawer, you have no way of knowing what is or isn't my style," Amanda snapped as she turned on her heel and walked back to the bedroom. Lee smiled again at the dumfounded look Amanda's comments had left on Francine's face.

"My, my," Francine said. "You'd have thought it, Amanda King wearing sexy bras."

"You should see the panties that she wore with it," Lee said with an impish grin causing Francine to roll her eyes. "And for the record, it's Amanda Stetson now."

"That's the whole problem, isn't it? Billy's had me running around like crazy, finding every bit of legal stuff that's been left undone, from agents who've gotten speeding tickets on the job to agents who've been sued for wrongful death. I swear to God, he's trying to keep the legal department from doing anything but working on getting you two unhitched. Then when I asked him about getting them started on your divorce process, he said that he wanted all this other stuff done first. When I pointed out that given your history, you wouldn't want to be tied down for too long, he just said that he knew what he was doing and that you'd thank him for it one day."

Lee's smile only widened as he Francine ended her tirade. "Is that it, Francine?" he said. "That's what you got me and my wife out of bed for?"

"I think you're enjoying this just a little too much," Francine said. "I can see why. I mean everybody knows that you and Amanda have had this weird attraction from the start, but marrying her was the only way you could get her to follow through with it. What I don't get though is that the marriage wasn't supposed to be for real, so how'd you get her to give in? Get her drunk, so you could seduce her?"

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I didn't need to seduce her? Or here's another thought for you. Maybe she seduced me," Lee said thinking back to their wedding night and Amanda boldly shedding her robe in front of him.

Francine laughed and said, "Amanda, the queen of all that is sweet and wholesome, seduced you? Yeah, that'll be the day."

"She's not as sweet or as wholesome as you think she is. Now, if you don't have anything else to say, I suggest you leave."

"Oh, I have plenty to say," Francine argued.

"Ok, let me re-phrase, leave! I know you don't have anything to say that I want to hear, so just go."

"Come on, Lee, what are you playing at here? You trying to keep yourself married to Amanda because you know she'll sleep with you now?"

Lee grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the door, yanked it open forcefully and said, "Out! Now! I stand by what I said at the office. This is none of your damn business!" He pushed her through the doorway into the hall and slammed the door in her face before she could say another word. He took a deep breath, ran a hand through his hair, shook his head, then trotted off to join his wife in the shower.

An hour later, Lee pulled his 'vette into Amanda's driveway parking it behind her station wagon. "Well, here we are," Lee said a little awkwardly at the inquisition he knew they were about to face from his new mother-in-law as he stepped out of the case. At least he knew the kids wouldn't be home from school for a while.

"Yeah," Amanda said nervously as he opened her door for her and helped her out. She, too, was dreading having to face her mother. She nervously fiddled with the rings on her finger.

"Hey," Lee said clasping her hands in his to stop her nervous actions. "We're going to be fine. We'll get through this together." He knew he was saying it just as much for his own peace of mind as he was for hers.

"Yeah, you're right," she said. "I mean, she might just be happy about this. She's been after me to get married again pretty much since I got divorced."

"I don't know that I'd be her first choice for a son-in-law though."

"Don't say that, Lee. You're a good man. Sure, you have your faults, but who doesn't?"

"Oh? And exactly what faults do you think I have?"He asked her with an arched eyebrow.

Amanda looked at him and decided it was much too dangerous to go down that road and instead asked him," So, about these rings..." she indicated her left hand, "...how is it that you happened to have your mom and dad's rings instead of rings issued by the agency?"

Lee smiled at her obvious diversionary tactic and said, "Honestly, it was just because of time. I had a hell of a time convincing Billy to let me take this case to start with since Orlando hasn't been known to be the most reliable source. By the time I got the approval and got you to agree to go with me, there wasn't time to have fabrications make up a false identity and do all the stuff they normally do. That's why we were registered for the cruise under our real names as well."

"You know, if we'd had them give us cover identities, none of this would have happened. We wouldn't be married now, not legally anyway." She sighed as she thought about how much simpler that would have made things, but then they wouldn't have had the time together they they've had. Or would they? They would still have ended up in that hotel room together. She had to wonder if they would still have made love that first night if they hadn't been legally married. Would Lee have let his guard down then or still clung to his we're-not-involved attitude. She found that she couldn't voice those thoughts. "So, then you don't want me to have these. You never planned to give them to me to begin with."

"Amanda, don't. I may not have planned to give them to you, but that doesn't mean that I don't want you to have them. I meant what I said last night; they're yours for as long as you want to wear them."

"But I shouldn't...I mean, they family heirlooms."

"And right now, you're my family," he said. "Keep them. If a day comes that you don't want them anymore, I'll understand." He knew he wouldn't understand. He'd be devastated if she wanted to end their marriage, but since she hadn't responded when he'd told her that he loved her, he wasn't quite ready to bare his soul to her that much. He was going to try his best to do as she asked and just be patient with her.

"You would? I'm not sure that I'd be that understanding," Amanda said a little hurt by his words. Maybe the words she thought she'd heard were just a figment of her imagination as she'd originally thought.

"I didn't mean...Ok, it would hurt, but I'm not going to force you into something you don't want. If you decided that you would be happier having your freedom, I would respect that. I care too much about you to want to see you unhappy." He then cupped her face as he leaned in to kiss her. He'd intended it to be just a soft, gentle kiss, but the moment his lips touched hers and she linked her hands behind his neck again, he found himself lost in her the way that he had on their wedding night. He slid his arms to her waist and pulled her closer, their kissing quickly becoming more heated. It was not to last though, as they were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat loudly.

They broke apart and turned toward the sound together to find Dotty West staring at them from the front yard, arms folded across her chest.

"Welcome home, Amanda,"' she said in a sarcastic tone as she gazed curiously at the man who'd just been in her daughter's arms.


	12. Chapter 12

"Welcome home, Amanda,"' Dotty West said in a sarcastic tone as she gazed curiously at the man who'd just been in her daughter's arms.

Ignoring the sarcastic tone in her mother's voice, Amanda simply said, "Thank you, Mother. It's good to be home."

"Uh-huh," Dotty said as she stepped through the side gate in the yard, and then leaned against it folding her arms tightly across her chest as she continued to glare at Lee.

Lee, becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the way his new mother-in-law was staring him down said, "You know, I should...Uh..." He gestured behind him toward the driver's side of the "vette. He glanced at Amanda who nodded back to him, getting his meaning. He quickly made his way to the other side of the car and opened the door.

"Not so fast, Mr...Is it Steadman?"Dotty said looking from Lee to Amanda as she tried to recall the name of the man she'd spoken to on the phone numerous times. Surely, this was the same man; the man that Amanda worked so closely with, but hardly ever talked about.

"Actually, it's Stetson, Mother," Amanda said firmly, trying desperately not to let her mother's stern look get to her.

"Well, then, Mr. Stetson," Dotty said approaching the sleek silver sports car as she directed an icy glare toward him, "Don't you think for a minute that I'm going you just fly on out of here after I find you out here necking with my only daughter in front of God and everybody. Not without some answers."

Lee bent to retrieve his keys from the ignition, then stood and held them up for her to see. "Relax, Mrs. West, I'm not going anywhere," he said then turned a pointed look toward Amanda who blushed furiously under his intense scrutiny. Lee then stepped around to the back of the car, began unloading Amanda's luggage and then added, "I promise you, you'll get your answers."

"Good," Dotty said with a nod. "So, how about we start with the wedding ring you're wearing." The shiny gold band had immediately caught her attention when he'd jingled his keys in front of her. "And why exactly you'd be kissing my daughter if you're married."

Lee sighed and glanced at Amanda for help. Amanda picked up on his silent cue and said, "Mother, we'll explain everything if you'll just give us a minute. Let's get inside first, okay?" Amanda walked to the back of the car to help Lee with her suitcases.

"Okay," Dotty said relenting a little, but still eyeing Lee suspiciously. "Why don't I go in and make us some coffee, then we can all sit down and talk?"

"That sounds great," Lee said flashing Dotty his most charming smile, though with the bomb they were about to drop on her, he definitely felt that he could use something stronger that coffee.

"Uh-huh," Dotty said not a bit swayed by this man's attempt to charm her. "I'll just go in and get it started." She walked back through the gate to go back to the house and turned just before entering to see that her daughter had closed the gap between the two of them and that they were speaking in hushed tones, her right hand now linked with his left as she fiddled with the wedding band on his finger. "Humph," she snorted as she walked into the house wondering what on earth her daughter could possibly be thinking about in messing around with a married man.

After she'd gone inside, Amanda said to an obviously nervous Lee, "Relax. This is going to be ok. Like you said, we'll get through it together. I think we're going to have to go with your undercover story, though since she's already seen your ring. I have a feeling that if we don't, it will only make things worse. She'll think I'm just having a clandestine love affair with a married man."

Lee smiled and said, "In a way, you are. It just happens to be with the man you're married to."

"Well, it's not so clandestine now that Billy and Francine know about us sleeping together. I'm just glad that Billy's the only one who knows that I might be pregnant."

"Yeah," Lee said grateful for that as well. "I think that's something we should probably _not_ tell your mother. She was already looking like she was ready to slice me up like a ham and serve me for Christmas dinner."

Amanda couldn't help but laugh at the imagery Lee's statement had created. "I guess it's a good thing that Christmas was two weeks ago."

"Yeah," Lee said as he released her hand just long enough to slam the trunk of the car closed. He then took her hand again and said, "Well, we'd better get in there before we make it any worse."

"You're right," Amanda said as she squeezed his hand affectionately and they made their way into the house together.

Lee and Amanda had just entered the house and looked at each other worriedly at the sounds coming from the kitchen of Dotty banging things around. "That doesn't sound good," Lee said.

"No, no, it doesn't," Amanda said. "Listen, why don't I talk to her first? You can take this stuff upstairs for me. That'll give you an excuse to give me a minute alone with her."

"Are you sure you can handle this alone?"

"She's my mother. Of course, I can. I know her better than anyone."

"O-kay-ay," Lee said skeptically.

"It'll be fine, Amanda assured him as she planted a quick kiss to his lips. "Now, go on."

"Alright," he said still looking unsure but he saw the determined look on her face and knew that there was no use arguing with her. Lee shook his head, sighed, then picked up her suitcases and obediently hauled them up the stairs as Amanda crossed the landing and joined her mother in the kitchen.

"Mother, we need to talk," Amanda began.

"We certainly do," Dotty said huffily as she leaned back against the island to face her daughter and once again folded her arms across her chest. "For starters, where's your gentleman friend?"

"He went to take my suitcases upstairs to my room for me in order to give us a moment to talk alone," Amanda explained.

"Oh?" Dotty said with an arched eyebrow. "And how exactly is it that he knows where your bedroom is? Or should I even ask?"

Amanda looked down at her shoes shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans before taking a deep breath and saying, "Mother, it's not what you think."

"No?" When Amanda shook her head, Dotty continued, "Well, I certainly hope not because what I'm thinking right now is that I just saw you brazenly making out with a married man, in the middle of the driveway, in broad daylight no less. What must the neighbors think?"

"Right now, I don't really care what the neighbors think," Amanda said defiantly.

"Clearly," Dotty said. "And another thing, I don't buy this "it's not what you think" bit. I know you, Amanda, and I saw the way you were kissing this man as if you wanted to devour him whole. I know from experience that that kind of kissing is usually reserved for people who've already been to bed together." When Amanda looked down again, blushing furiously, Dotty jumped on it. "A-ha! I knew it! You _are_ sleeping with him! Oh, Amanda, how could you? I mean, I know that I've been pushing you to find someone new, but a married man? Maybe this is partially my fault. Maybe I've just been pushing you too hard."

"No, Mother, you haven't. I get that you've just wanted to see me settled again and I want that too. This thing with Lee...it's...well...it's complicated...but I want you to know that I'm not doing anything wrong, nothing that would make you ashamed of me."

"So, you don't think there's anything shameful about having a tumultuous love affair with a married man? God, no wonder you and this Mr. Stetson go away together on these "work" trips so often. How much of it actually is work?" A horrible thought struck her then. Had her daughter been lying to her all this time? "Or is any of it really work?"

"Every trip that Lee and I have ever gone on together has been strictly about work, but it's the nature of our work that makes it complicated. This trip got, well, a little..." Amanda paused as she searched for the right words.

"You said complicated earlier," Dotty said.

Before Amanda could answer, Lee stepped into the kitchen and said, "Complicated doesn't begin to describe, although I don't know if there's really a word that does. Is there a word for most complicated?" He draped one arm across Amanda's shoulder. She responded by leaning into him, her head against his shoulder. "Mrs. West, I want you to know, that neither of us planned on this. It just...it just happened."

"And in the process, you _just happened_ to forget that you were married?" Dotty said with an incredulous look on her face.

"You didn't tell her?"Lee said with a curious look at Amanda.

"Not yet," Amanda said. "I haven't had much of a chance to." She looked pointedly at her mother.

"Tell me what?" Dotty said looking from one to the other.

Lee and Amanda looked at each other while Dotty looked at them; they then looked back at Dotty. Dotty was the first one to break the awkward silence by saying, "You know, that coffee should be done by now."

"Listen, Mother, why don't you get the coffee and then we'll all sit down and have a long talk about this. We'll tell you the whole story and you can ask all the questions you want. I know you must have a lot of them."

"You bet I do," Dotty said as she finally uncrossed her arms and turned in the direction of the coffeepot that rested in the corner of the countertop.

Lee and Amanda stepped into the den while Dotty busied herself preparing a tray. Amanda finally pulled her hands from her pockets as she and Lee sat on the couch together and she clasped her hands with his, very much needing his comforting touch. "How are we going to do this," she whispered.

"Just like we talked about," Lee whispered back as his fingers found his mothers rings on her left hand and began absently toying with them, "The cover assignment, the documentary, the wedding to maintain our cover, all of it."

"Amanda," Dotty said loudly from the kitchen. "Didn't I always teach you that it's not polite to whisper?"

"Sorry, Mother," Amanda said. "We're just trying to have a private conversation here."

"Humph," Dotty replied as she entered the room with a tray laden with the coffee cups. "From what I witnessed outside, it seems to me that you've had quite enough _private conversations._"

Lee shifted uncomfortably at the look that Dotty was giving him. He released his hold on Amanda's hands, turned to fully face her and said, "Listen, Mrs. West, you should know that I care very deeply for Amanda."

Amanda looked at him curiously with a warm smile on her face. She leaned into him sliding her left arm around him, while Dotty asked, "Do you take sugar, Mr. Steadman?"

"It's Stetson," Lee corrected, "And no, just a little cream."

"Stetson," Dotty said with a curious expression, having said his name wrong on purpose to gauge his reaction. "Hmmm, it's funny, in all the times you've called here for Amanda for some work-related emergency, I could've sworn that you told me your name was Steadman."

"I know I did and there's a reason for that," Lee said.

"Oh?" Dotty said in surprise as she'd expected him to deny it. She handed him a coffee cup.

"Yes, there is," Lee said as he took the cup from her hands, taking a small sip from it before continuing, "I don't know how much Amanda has told you about what we do for a living…"

"Almost nothing," Dotty said with a scowl directed at her daughter.

Lee kept going, not letting her interruption deter him. "…But IFF is a government documentary film company and there are some times that we can't always use our real names, especially when it comes to more sensitive stuff. Some of the people we investigate for our films don't take kindly to having filmmakers snooping around, so we often use false names or covers."

Realization dawned on Dotty as she picked up her own coffee cup and sat in the armchair to the right of the sofa. She glanced at Amanda again, "Is that why we sometimes get calls asking for Amanda Keane? I just always assumed it was someone just making a mistake with your name. I mean, King and Keane do sound an awful lot alike."

"Yes, Mother," Amanda said before giving Lee a sideways look, surprise evident on her face that he was sharing more with her mother than she'd imagined that he would.

"Okay, that makes some sense," Dotty said. "But it doesn't answer my questions, really. What does your job have to do with this sordid love affair you've been having?"

"Mother, it's not a sordid love affair. As Lee already mentioned, we sometimes have to use covers to do the things we do."

"Like undercover reporters?"Dotty inquired.

"Yes, exactly like that," Lee said.

"Well, this cruise that we just came back from was just like that. We were working on a documentary on these love-boat type cruises and what really goes on behind the scenes and this particular cruise…it was…well…it was a honeymoon cruise."

"Honeymoon cruise?" Dotty said her curiosity piqued even more.

"Yes, Mrs. West," Lee answered. "It was a cruise for engaged coupled and the idea was that all the couples would get married and Amanda and I…" He hesitated, not quite sure how to phrase what he wanted to say.

"What Lee is trying to say is that in order to maintain our cover, we had to get married," Amanda pulled her hand from behind Lee and displayed the rings there.

"So, all this time that you've been letting me stew, thinking that you were having an affair with a married man, it's you that he's been married to all this time?" While she was upset that her daughter had married again with no notice, she was also relieved to find out that she was not sleeping with a married man.

"Not all this time. It's not as if we've been married for months or years without telling you. It just happened two days ago. We didn't plan to get married, but since we weren't done with our investigation, it would have looked really suspicious if we didn't go through with the wedding."

"Couldn't one of you just have faked an attack of cold feet or something? I mean, if you do this sort of thing all the time, surely you'd be skilled enough at acting the part that you could have made it seem convincing." Lee and Amanda gave each other why-didn't-we-think-of-that looks. This did not go unnoticed by Dotty's keen eyes. "You wanna' know what I think? I think that deep down, you didn't think of it because secretly you both wanted to marry each other. I mean, the way the two of you were wrapped around each other outside, it's quite apparent that you have feelings for each other." She then turned her attention solely to Lee and said, "Mr. Stetson, I don't know what kind of man you are as we just met, but I do know my daughter and I know that she would never, ever go to bed with a man that she didn't feel very strongly about, married or not."

"Well, that wasn't exactly part of the plan," Lee said sheepishly, shifting again under Dotty's intense scrutiny. "It just happened."

"You said that before, but it doesn't change the fact that the two of you are married and now that that marriage has been…consummated, an annulment's out of the question," Dotty said turning her attention back to her daughter trying to gauge her feelings by her facial expressions. When Amanda's response was to turn a bright shade of red, she continued, "So, my next question is, what exactly are you going to do about it." She then turned her attention back to Lee. "I sincerely hope that you're not planning on putting my daughter through another divorce. The first one was painful enough for her. What Joe King did to my poor baby girl…" Her voice trailed off as a hint of sadness for Amanda took over.

Lee glanced at Amanda curiously wondering exactly what her mother meant and if it was related to Amanda being so reluctant to talk about her first marriage and what had gone wrong in it to cause it to end in divorce. "No, Mrs. West. At least not for the time being," Lee answered as he shifted his gaze back to his mother-in-law.

"What exactly does that mean, not for the time being?" Dotty asked a bit flummoxed by his statement.

"Mother, Lee and I have talked about this since it happened and we decided that we'd like to at least give this a try, get to know each other a little better and see where it goes."

"I'd say if you've already slept together, you should know each other pretty well by now," was Dotty acid reply.

"It's not that simple, Mother. It's not as if we had some grand romantic courtship before this happened. Until two days ago, we were just friends and co-workers."

"Well, you're certainly a lot more than that now."

"I know and it's a…a little overwhelming for both of us. Lee's a bachelor…"

"Not anymore, he isn't, "Dotty interjected.

"Okay, no, but the point I'm trying to make is that this is a complex situation."

"It doesn't have to be," Dotty argued. "I mean, he just said that he cares very deeply for you and it's obvious to me that you care very deeply for him as well. So, what's the problem?"

"Mother, you know as well as I do that it takes more than that to make a marriage work. I learned that the hard way, remember?"

"Of course, I remember. I was there with you the day you signed your final divorce papers. I held you when you grieved over it and tried to do the best I could to help you through it which is why I don't want to see you go through it again."

"And that's why Lee and I want to take things slowly."

"Isn't it a little too late for taking things slowly," Dotty said with a knowing look.

"Why do you keep coming back to that," Lee asked impatiently, Amanda's mother getting on his last nerve. "Yes, we slept together, but it…oh, hell…" he grumbled as he slammed his coffee cup down, sloshing its contents on the table as he rose from his seat and ran his hands through his hair. "Look, I know that we made a big mess of things here, but we're trying to clean up that mess now, make the best of it."

"Clearly, you've been a bachelor for far too long. Making the best of it is no way to make a marriage work."

"And that's just one of our problems," Amanda said jumping to Lee's rescue. "Lee's not only been a bachelor his whole life, but was also raised by a bachelor uncle, so he doesn't have any real concept of family life so it's going to be a challenge, especially with the boys."

"Speaking of which, what exactly do you plan on telling the boys?"

Lee and Amanda looked at each other worriedly before Lee turned his attention back to Dotty and said, "That's where we were hoping you could help us."


	13. Chapter 13

Dotty looked at Lee incredulously and said, "Mr. Stetson, I don't know what it is you think I can possibly do to help you with the boys." She then looked at her daughter then back at Lee. She pointed an accusing finger at each of them and added, "You two made this mess and it's up to you to clean it up."

"Mother, please," Amanda said. "We're both really at a loss here."

"No, Amanda, absolutely not! They are _your _children. It is _your_ responsibility to deal with explaining your new marital status to them. And it's your responsibility to explain to them that they have a new stepfather that they've never even met." She then turned her attention back to Lee. "How exactly were you planning on handling that, Mr. Stetson? Being a stepfather to my grandchildren, I mean?"

"It's Lee, okay? My name is Lee. As far as being a stepfather to the kids, I..."He faltered under Dotty's intense scrutiny and flopped back down onto the couch beside his bride. Amanda reached for his hand lacing her fingers with his. He looked at her, smiled slightly, took a deep breath and said, "I...It's like Amanda said, I am a..._was_...a bachelor. I've never been part of a real family, not since I was five years old so this thing with the kids...I haven't got a damn clue. It's not as if I had any kind of stable father figure to teach me how to do any of this. If it were just me and Amanda, I think it would be a lot easier to adapt to being married, but-"

"But it's not just you and Amanda," Dotty said. "Surely, you knew when you married her that she was a mother?"

"Yes, I did, but-"

Dotty cut him off abruptly again, "Then explain to me why you didn't think of that when you were having sex with my daughter, sealing your marriage legally."

"Would you get off that subject already? You act as if I forced myself on her which couldn't' be farther from the truth. The fact is that we're both adults well over the legal age of consent and that part is nobody's business but ours."

"Normally I'd be inclined to agree with you," Dotty said. "I mean, God knows it's been a long time since Amanda's had that kind of relationship and she's a woman with deep desires that have been suppressed by her devoting so much of her time to her children. The problem is that this act has changed everything. If this were just a love affair, it'd be different. You could just be introduced to them as their mother's boyfriend, take your time getting to know them, get them to trust you. The problem is that we're talking about more than just a simple love affair here. We're talking about marriage here and marriage comes with responsibility. I hope to God you're going to live up to that responsibility more than Joe King ever did."

"Mother, leave Joe out of this," Amanda said not wanting to open that can of worms in front of Lee.

"Give me one good reason why I should, Amanda. That man utterly abandoned his responsibility to your and to your children."

"Mother, he didn't really abandon-"

"What else would you call it, Amanda? Where is he now? Off in some God-forsaken out-of-the-way place where they don't even have the barest necessities, doing more for strangers that he is for his own family. He's never been there for you or the boys the way that he should have been, not since Jamie was a baby. I mean, it's a wonder that he even showed up long enough to sign the divorce papers."

Lee glanced at Amanda curiously, who pulled her hand from his, averted her eyes, looking only at her mother and said, "Look, Mother, none of that has anything to do with our present situation."

"Sure, it does," Dotty argued. "Those children have never had a stable male role model in their lives because of Joe's asinine behavior. Now, your Mr. Stetson here is their stepfather. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, it's fact and it's a fact that the two of you are going to have to deal with if you want to truly "clean up your mess" as he put it."

"Speaking of cleaning up messes, I should take care of this," Lee said with a nod to the coffee table. He made a hasty retreat to the kitchen. He sighed as he reached to pull the roll of paper towels from its holder by the sink then turned to find himself face to face with his wife. He started at seeing her there so close to him.

"Are you ok," she said.

Lee looked at Amanda and shook his head. "I'm starting to think that our original plan would have gone down a lot easier," he said with a nervous chuckle. "Just tell her we're dating and ease her into the marriage part later."

"Well, that idea got shot down as soon as she saw your ring," Amanda said. "Besides, even though she's upset, it's better to be honest with her. I don't know though, the more that I think about it, the more I think that that might be the way to go with the boys. Let them get to know your first before we tell them we're married. I mean, we're both still kind of figuring this out and we don't even know if we're going to stay married. How am I supposed to explain it to my children if we tell them we're married now and then a month down the road tell them their mother's getting divorced again?"

"There you go talking about divorce again," Lee said. He was already annoyed by her mother, now she was talking about ending their marriage again already. Didn't the fact that he'd told her he loved her mean anything to her? A horrible thought struck him that maybe it did mean something, only not what he was hoping. Maybe he'd said it too soon and he'd scared her further by saying it. He'd wanted to let her know that he was serious when he'd said he wanted to give their marriage a chance, but now he was worried that since she'd been divorced before and seemed reluctant to give him a chance because of it, that saying those words had been too much.

"I'm just trying to be realistic here. You and I are so different. I'm the queen of the PTA where you're the king of one-night stands."

"Is that what you really think of me?"Lee said deeply disturbed her comment. "You have got to stop listening to the water cooler gossip at the office because a lot of it has been severely exaggerated."

"Oh, Really? How many girlfriends have you had since we've been working together?"

"How many guys have you dated since then?" Lee fired back. "I know of at least four. Your weatherman, Dan, David Benson, Alan Squires, James Delano, not to mention all the flirting you did with your old high school pal, Conrad Barnhill when we were in London."

"Ok, first of all, the weatherman's name is Dean, second, David Benson and James Delano were for jobs, if you recall and third, I was not flirting with Connie. He was flirting with me. The poor guy has had a crush on me since our sophomore year. I didn't ask for that."

"Okay, maybe not, so how about we talk about the New Year's Eve party just a week or so ago? I left you alone for no more than five minutes when I was talking to Emily and there you were laughing it up with Sidney Whitsett. Come to think of it, I can't ever leave you alone at a party without men flocking around you!"

"The same could be said for you," Amanda said. "Every party we go to, there's some cheap floozy hitting on you and usually right in front of me, but I haven't seen you ever let them know that you're there with someone. I cease to exist every time that happens."

"That is so not true. I seem to recall the first party that we ever went to together, I introduced you to Celeste and I also seem to recall that it was you that I was dancing with, not anyone else," Lee shouted.

"Only because you wanted that damned package!" Amanda shouted back.

Dotty, at seeing how heated their argument was becoming decided to intervene, "Hey, cool it, you two," she said as she stepped into the kitchen looking from one to the other taking in the fiery looks on both of their faces, looks that were a mix of anger, jealousy and a hint of their underlying desire for one another. "What's happened in the past doesn't matter. The two of you need to move past that and start focusing on your future." She then turned her attention solely to Lee and said, "Mr. Stetson, if you don't mind, I'd like a moment alone with my daughter."

Lee tore his eyes from Amanda's and said, "Yeah," as he made his way back into the den to clean up the coffee mess that he'd made.

"You, Missy, come with me," Dotty said as she nudged her toward the staircase.

"Mother, what are you doing?"Amanda protested.

"Go on, Amanda, upstairs, now," her mother said giving her a shove toward the staircase.

When they reached Amanda's bedroom, Amanda turned to her mother and said, "What is this all about, Mother?"

"Sit down. We need to have a talk." At seeing the determined look in her mother's eyes, Amanda did as she was told. Dotty paced back and forth in front of her for a moment before sitting beside her and saying, "What exactly is going on between you and this man?"

"I already told you what happened," Amanda said.

"You got married to protect your cover, I get that. That doesn't explain the rest of it though. If you didn't plan to get married, then why on earth would you spend the night with him?"

"Because of our cover, we were forced to share a room. The hotel was booked solid because of all the honeymooners so we couldn't get another room, so we didn't have a choice but to share the one that had been booked by IFF."

Dotty shook her head and said, "I can understand that, but that still doesn't explain the sex part. Just because you were sharing a room, that didn't mean you had to share a bed with him."

"Like Lee said downstairs, that part just happened. It wasn't something either of us planned on."

"It just happened? Come on, Amanda. Saying something like that may explain an accident like one of the boys hitting a baseball through a window or backing your car into a pole. That doesn't explain sharing the most intimate thing two people can share. There had to have come a point where you thought about it and what the consequences might be. Crossing that threshold whether you're married or not always has consequences."

Amanda sighed and rose from the bed, absently stroking her abdomen wondering just what the consequences of her actions with Lee would be. "Believe me, Mother, I know."

Dotty's keen eyes instantly caught onto the significance of her daughter's actions. "It all makes perfect sense now. Your new husband's comments about not getting divorced for the time being. Not only did you sleep with this man, but also you failed to be cautious when doing so. So now, you're just waiting to find out if you're pregnant. Oh, Amanda, how could you be so irresponsible?"

"Look, we did take precautions, but there was an...an...accident." She explained to her mother about the broken condom, how she and Lee had discussed it and decided that it was best to wait and see before making any concrete decisions about ending their marriage.

"So, then what? What's your grand plan, stay married long enough to find out if you're carrying his child, then if you're not, get a divorce just as quickly as you got married?"

"I don't know, Mother. I just don't know, okay?" Amanda said with a frustrated sigh as she sank back down onto the bed, tears slipping down her cheeks as the thought of a divorce tore through her heart.

"Amanda, Darling, I think you and Lee should stop all this talk of divorce, regardless of whether you're expecting. It's very obvious to me that you two are crazy in love with each other."

"No, Mother, you're wrong. Lee's not in love with me."

"No? With the way that he was acting like a typical jealous husband downstairs, you certainly could have fooled me.

"The first thing he said to me when we started discussing our situation was that we should get it annulled as soon as we got back to town. That's not something that a man in love would want."

"I'm assuming that's before you slept together?"Dotty questioned.

"Yes," Amanda answered.

"Well, that changes everything, Amanda. How exactly did you go from talking about an annulment to sleeping together anyway? I mean, were you drinking? Is that it? I mean, I can see that the two of you have deep feelings for one another, but that's the part that doesn't quite make sense to me."

"No, I mean, yes, we drank some champagne, but not enough to make a difference. This is entirely my fault. I practically threw myself at him. I...I have wanted him for so long and the room was set up for a newlywed couple and I...I just kept thinking that it was now or never. I hate to admit this, but I wanted it because not only did I want him, but also as horrible as this sounds, I wanted to make it harder for him to end our marriage. I'm a terribly selfish person for thinking that way. I...I should have just let it go, let him have his freedom."

"I don't believe that for a second, Amanda. You're not a selfish person and even if you were the one who initiated things between you heating up, he could have said no at anytime. He must have wanted you just as much or he would have. He should have also known that an annulment would be impossible after consummating your marriage. Did it ever occur to you that he wanted to stay married to you too?"

"Then why would he have talked about annulling it in the first place?"

"Maybe as a way to testing out how you felt about it. You see, Amanda, men are funny when it comes to admitting to their feelings. A lot of times, they want to know how we feel about things before they feel comfortable opening up themselves. Besides, I heard how angry he got when the two of you were arguing downstairs when you mentioned divorce. I genuinely believe that he loves you and wants to make this work. I don't think he'd be here dealing with me giving him a hard time if he weren't serious."

"Maybe," Amanda said skeptically.

"Amanda King, You are so stubborn! Can't you just once in your life trust your mother?" Dotty looked at her daughter as she thought of the words she'd just said to her and said, "I guess you're not really Amanda King anymore, are you? You're Amanda Stetson now."

"For now," Amanda said as the silent tears still slipped down her cheeks.

"You don't know that. Listen, why don't I give you a minute to compose yourself? I'll tell your groom downstairs that you needed some time to unpack."

"Thank you, Mother."

"You're welcome, my darling girl. I'm sure this will all work out for the best. You just need to have a little faith." She kissed her daughter on the cheek, exited the room and hurried down the stairs to find that her new son-in-law had not only cleaned up the mess in the den, but was in the process of washing the coffee cups they'd used. She smiled slightly at his initiative, but then thinking of her daughter upstairs crying made that smile a short-lived one. She sidled up next to him and said, "Alright, Son, you and I need to have a serious talk."


	14. Chapter 14

Dotty sidled up next to Lee and said, "Alright, Son, you and I need to have a serious talk."

Lee turned to his mother-in-law warily and said, "Okay. Let me just...Uh...finish this up." He gestured to the coffee cups he'd just washed then turned from her to reach into a drawer for a dishtowel and began drying them. "So...uh..." he stammered awkwardly as he worked unable to look her in the eye."...what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"As if you didn't know," Dotty said as she once again folded her arms across her chest and glared at him, scrutinizing his every move as he dried the cups and put them in their proper place in the cupboard. "How about you tell me just how it is that you know your way around this house so well?"

"I...uh...I...don't know what you mean," Lee said evasively as he put the last cup in its place then hung up the used dishtowel neatly to let it dry.

"Baloney!" She snapped. "You walked in this house and went straight to Amanda's bedroom with her luggage without having to ask which room was hers when there are three bedrooms in this house. Now, you just happened to reach into the right drawer for a towel and you instinctively knew which cabinet the coffee cups belong in, so how do you know all these things when you and Amanda said you were only married two days ago?"

Lee sighed, finally turned to face her, no longer having a task to complete to keep him occupied. He leaned against the counter facing her and said, "Amanda and I may have only been married two days ago, but we've known each other for two years. I've been here several times," he explained though not wanting to let her know just how many times he'd been there and why.

"Funny, because while we've talked on the phone several times, I don't recall ever seeing you before I became a witness to that shameful public display out in the driveway. I don't remember you ever coming to the front door, ringing the doorbell and asking to be invited in. I don't seem to remember Amanda ever inviting you over for dinner or introducing you to the family or seeing the gorgeous car of yours parked in the driveway before today".

"No," Lee conceded. "I usually park down the block. Besides, I've only had that car a couple of months."

"Are you the reason that my flower beds are always a mess?"Dotty inquired. Before Lee could answer, she answered the question herself. "Of course, it all makes perfect sense now. You're not only the reason my flowers keep being trampled. I always thought it was the boys roughhousing, but it hasn't been. It's been you all this time. You're also the reason that my daughter has developed this endless fascination with the back yard. She's been sneaking out there to see you." She uncrossed her arms and lodged a solid kick at the trashcan in anger as more of the pieces stated to come together. "God, what kind of man are you that you'd force my daughter to lie to her family about her relationship with you? Exactly how long has this love affair been going on behind my back?"

"Mrs. West, listen-"

"No, _you_ listen," she said hotly cutting off his attempt at an explanation. "I demand to know what's really going on here! Is this the reason that my daughter's been telling me all these tall tales about why she sometimes doesn't come home? Is this why she'll get a phone call, then dart out of the house as if she's on an urgent mission from God? Why she comes home with her clothes in ruins, covered in mud or soaked to the bone? What exactly have you and my daughter been doing together?"

"Look-"Lee began again, but Dotty wasn't done.

"Is there some reason that you and Amanda have for keeping all this from me? Is your relationship that torrid that she feels she has to hide if from me? I don't begrudge her having a little passion in her life, but if this is something that's got her so ashamed to tell me about it, I don't know if I can accept this. Just what the hell is going on between you two?"

Seeing Dotty looking at him expectantly, Lee sensed that she was finally done and said with a grin, "So, which question should I answer first?"

"Don't you even try to get cute with me," Dotty said not falling for his charm.

Lee ran a hand through his hair, sighed and said, "The first thing that you should know is that Amanda's not doing anything to be ashamed of, okay? This relationship between us was purely a working relationship until two days ago. Yes, she's been sneaking out to the backyard to see me, but not for the reason that you think. We haven't been having some torrid love affair. Every time that I've been here, it's been work-related. We work for the government and the government has secrets, so a lot of the work we do is classified. There are things about what we do for a living that we can't discuss with anyone outside of the office for security reasons. That's why I've never been introduced to the family on invited into the house through the front door. We both thought it was better that way. Then you wouldn't be asking all these questions that Amanda can't answer without violating her security clearance."

"You talk like you're saving the free world from Russian spies or something," Dotty said. "I've read a lot of spy novels in my time and the tales she tells me and what you're telling me now sounds just like that."

"Spies?" Lee said with a nervous chuckle. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Ridiculous? I might have thought so a year or so ago, but the numbers here keep adding up to just one equation, that you and my daughter are not filmmakers."

"I don't know what to tell you, Mrs. West," Lee said. "We work for IFF. I can show you a pay stub if you'd like if that'll prove it to you."

"Let's skip that part for now," Dotty said. "What I'm more interested in is what exactly your feelings are for my daughter. You said earlier that you care very deeply for her, but that's not exactly a ringing endorsement for building a solid marriage on. You say you don't want a divorce, yet you both seem to be holding back." When Lee didn't reply, she went on. "You know what I think? I think that you're crazy in love with her, but you're too scared to admit it."

"What? I'm not scared," Lee protested.

"No?"

"No, In fact, I told her last night that I loved her," Lee said in an attempt to defend himself.

"Oh? And how did she react?" Dotty said in puzzlement, wondering why her daughter hadn't told her that during the conversation they'd just had upstairs.

"She didn't, okay?" Lee said in frustration. "No reaction at all. It was as if I never said anything to begin with."

"I see," Dotty said a little perturbed by hearing this. "So, let me ask you another question. How exactly did you make the declaration of your undying love for her?"

"Look, I get that you're concerned for your daughter and you have every right to be since you don't know me from Adam, but don't you think your questions are getting just a little bit too personal?"

"Not where my daughter's happiness is concerned, "Dotty said pointedly. "So, how did you do it?"

"It's private," Lee answered blushing slightly at the memory of the night before.

Dotty's eyes widened at the self-conscious look on his face and said simply, "You're an idiot," as recognition hit her.

"Excuse me?"Lee said in annoyance.

"I mean it. You have a lot to learn about the proper way to romance a woman." Lee gaped at her. Was she serious? Did she know how many women he'd romanced over the years? At seeing the stunned look on Lee's face, Dotty explained, "How do you expect her to take something like that seriously if it's said only in the throes of passion?"

"How did you-"

"It's written all over your face," Dotty answered before Lee finished asking the question. "If you want her to believe that you're serious about her, you need to confess your feelings for her some other way, when you're both fully dressed. It wouldn't hurt to set the mood a little, a nice dinner, candlelight, a little wine..."

"I know how to set that mood, thank you," Lee countered. "This isn't my first rodeo."

"But it is your first marriage. If you want it to last, you're going to have to work at it and you're going to have to be patient with her. She's suffered a major heartbreak once already and it may not be easy for her to accept that you're for real."

"I get it," Lee said as Dotty's words echoed Amanda's of the night before about being patient.

"So, I have just one more question. I know you have feelings for her, but are you staying married to her solely because you might have gotten her pregnant?" At seeing Lee turn slightly green, she thought, G_otcha!_

"Did Amanda tell you about that?"Lee asked in surprise.

"She didn't have to. When I made a comment about taking precautions, it was written all over her face, just like it is on yours now."

"I'll admit, it was my idea to halt any talk of ending our marriage when we realized what had happened, what could have happened, and at first that was my only thought, that I wouldn't abandon her if she's carrying my child. The more I thought about it though, the more that I realized that there was more to it than that. She and I have been attracted to each other from the start, so that got me to thinking that maybe there was something there that we could build a real future on. I don't know if I'm cut out for marriage. I've been a loner for so long, but I do know one thing and that's that Amanda and I can't ever go back to being just friends, not now."

"You're certainly right about that," Dotty said. "Getting physical changes everything whether you're married or not. Therefore, here's what I suggest. All this stuff you just told me?"

"Yeah?"

"Try telling that to my daughter," Dotty suggested.

"I have," Lee said. "I told her that I wanted to try to make this work."

"Okay, well, try again and make sure that she believes it and make sure that she understands that it's not just because you may have impregnated her. Let her know that you'll be there for the long haul even if she isn't pregnant."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"Then, you'll have to keep trying until you convince her, show her how you feel. I know it may take a while and there may be times that you feel like you're beating your head against a brick wall. My daughter can be very stubborn."

"You don't have to tell me that," Lee said with a chuckle.

"The thing is though; she's got the most giving, loving heart of anyone I know. You just have to get her to let her guard down long enough to let you into it."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lee said as he pondered Dotty's words.

"Okay, I'm all unpacked now," Amanda said as she entered the room. She looked from her mother to her husband and said, "What's going on in here?"

"Oh, nothing," Dotty said. "Lee and I were just having a nice little chat.

Lee smiled a little at hearing his mother-in-law use his first name, "Yes, we were," He concurred.

"I'm glad you're here," Dotty said. "Now, that we've all talked things out, it's time to figure out how to handle the children before they get home from school."

.


	15. Chapter 15

Amanda looked at her mother in surprise and said, "I thought that you said you weren't going to help us figure out what to do with the boys, that it was our mess to clean up." She stepped further into the kitchen to stand by her husband's side who put his arm around her while she leaned against him for support.

"Well, they are my grandchildren, after all," Dotty said. "i...I was just so thrown by the news that you came home from the trip married and to a man that I've never met, that I...Well, I have to admit, I reacted badly." She glanced at her daughter and her son-in-law and couldn't help but notice how utterly at ease Amanda seemed in Lee's comforting embrace. She only wished she could get her stubborn daughter to feel that comfortable with sharing her feelings with the man that she obviously loved. She decided that she had to take action. "Listen, you two must be starving! Why don't I fix us all a nice lunch and we can sit down and have a long talk where we can put our heads together and figure out what to tell the children?"

"That sounds nice, Mother, but why don't you let me help?"Amanda said as she stepped forward and out of her husband's arms.

"No, Amanda. You two need to have a talk of your own without me in the way," she said with a pointed glance to Lee to remind him of what she'd said to him just moments ago. "So, why don't you go on out to the backyard where I know you both feel comfortable," she said placing a guiding hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Mrs. West, I..." Lee began.

"You too," She said as she pushed him toward the back door. "And for the record, it's Dotty."

"Dotty?" Lee questioned.

"Well, after all, you are my son-in-law now. We should at least be on a first-name basis."

"Okay," Lee said with a smile. "Dotty it is."

"I'll come get you when lunch is ready. Now, go on. Scoot!"

Lee and Amanda looked at each other for a moment, then at Dotty. At seeing the determined look in her eyes, they both scrambled for their coats like scolded children and made their way outside into the frigid January day. "Here," Lee said with his hand on the small of Amanda's back as he guided her to the gazebo. "This should shield us a little from the cold air." Amanda nodded as they entered the gazebo together and sat down on the bench facing each other, Lee wrapping his arms around her waist, Amanda shivering at his touch. "You cold?"Lee asked in concern.

"No," Amanda said as she gazed longingly into his eyes.

Lee looked at her with a pained expression as he saw the remnants of tears on her face. "You've been crying," He said simply. B_ecause of me, _he thought with a grimace as Dotty's advice to make her understand how he felt about her haunted him.

"What?" Amanda said as she tore her gaze from his. "No," she said rising from the bench, turning away from him and wrapping her arms protectively around herself.

"Damn it, Amanda, don't lie to me," Lee said impatiently as he also rose and spun her around to face him forcing her to look at him. "I know you better than that. I've seen your tears before, even wiped them away a few times. I know what that looks like, so don't even try to deny it."

"Okay, yes, I was crying, but you don't know how hard this is for me," Amanda replied trying to blink back more tears.

"Then why don't you clue me in a little? I can't help you if I don't know what's bothering you."

"What's bothering me? How can you not know what's bothering me? This whole situation is bothering me," Amanda cried out. "I mean, i swore to myself after my divorce that if I ever got married again I was going to make damn sure that it was forever!"

Lee released his hold on her shoulders, and dropped his hands to his sides, startled by her vehemence. She very rarely ever swore so he knew she must be good and steamed...at him. "How can you be so sure that this...this thing between us doesn't have a shot of being forever?" he fired back.

"This thing?"Amanda said incredulously. "It's called a marriage. The fact that you can't even say the word is just proof that it _doesn't _have a shot at being forever!"

"I gave you my mother's rings, didn't I? If you had any damn clue what those rings mean to me, you'd know that I was serious about trying to make our _marriage_ work."

"You only gave them to me because you were pressed for time. You said that yourself," Amanda countered.

"If you recall, I also told you that they were yours for as long as you wanted them or have you forgotten that part? I also told you when we were at my place that if things continue to go well between us, I'd like for us to have a place of our own."

"Look, stop it, okay! Stop with the big promises of the future, of a happily ever after, of getting a house together and being one big happy family when we both know that you're only saying all of this out of guilt and worry that you might have gotten me pregnant!"

"No, Amanda, that's not where this is coming from. I admit it, that at first, that was my only thought when we had our little "accident," and yes, I felt guilty and worried. But the fact that we were able to talk it out and that we made love again, not once but several times after that tells me that we have a real chance here, if only you weren't too damn stubborn to see what I see. Baby or no baby, I care far too much about you to just let you walk out of my life."

"I never said I was walking out of your life," Amanda said softly with a sigh of frustration. "I know that I haven't been acting like it, but I do care about you too. My mother was right when she said that I would never sleep with a man that I didn't care about, but there has to be more to build a marriage on than just that.

"Well, I think the fact that we have a solid friendship is a good foundation for that too. Don't people always say that you have to be friends first to make any relationship work?" When Amanda didn't reply right away, he couldn't resist teasing her a little. "And I think that we've already figured out that we're sexually compatible," he added with a rakish grin as he reached for her again pulling her into his arms and kissing her firmly.

Amanda gave into him for a moment, relishing the feel of his lips on hers, his arms around her, her intense desire for him building all over again, but she forced herself to pull away. "Stop," she said as she backed away from him again to compose herself.

"What?" he said impatiently. "What did I do wrong, Amanda?"

"Nothing You didn't do anything wrong. I think we need to just cool down on that stuff," Amanda said. "All it does is cloud the issue at hand. I mean, you're right. There's no denying that we're sexually compatible, very much so, but that's exactly what got us into the mess we're in, in the first place."

"So, what? It's strictly hands-off now. I guess what I always heard about your sex life dwindling once you're married is true," He quipped. "I just never thought it would happen after only two days."

"Is that all you care about? I'm sorry if I'm not like the other women you've been around who can just sleep with you without feeling anything, but I'm not wired that way. To me, sex it about sharing something deeply intimate and personal with someone and I don't take it as casually as you do. I...I mean, when we...m-m-made love, it was...well, it was special to me, last night especially with the way you looked at me, the way you never took your eyes off me."

"So, now I'm a jerk because I wanted to look at you? Because I wanted you to look at me? God, Amanda, don't you get what I was trying to do there? I wanted it known that last night was just about us, you and me, and that there was nobody in that bed but us, no memories of the past, no thinking about anybody else, just you and me making love to each other, sharing something special." Lee sighed in frustration and threw himself onto the bench.

"Oh, is that what that was about?"Amanda said coolly. "The way that you were teasing me, making me beg for you, I thought that was just your normal over-inflated ego at work."

"Wow, you really have a hell of a low opinion of me, don't you," Lee said looking at her the hurt evident in his eyes. "Why is it so wrong that I wanted to know that my wife wanted me, that the feelings I have for you aren't just one-sided."

"Don't, Lee, don't confuse the intense physical desire with have for each other with something deeper. That's only going to make matters worse," Amanda said though she had to wonder by the look on his face it the words she'd thought she'd her coming from his lips when they'd made love were real. "In fact, I think for now, we should just keep our hands to ourselves until we figure out what's what, what we really feel for each other. As much as I enjoyed the two nights we spent together and the way you made me feel, I have to know that there's more there than just a healthy sexual attraction."

Lee nodded in understanding, swallowing hard, he said, "I get it."

"Now, you motioned the dating idea and I think that it's a great idea, but it should be _really _dating. As in, you picking me up, taking me out and dropping me back at home at the end of the night. While I think it's really very sweet that you made room for me at your place, I don't think I should be spending any more nights there for a while. It just confuses things and besides that, it wouldn't set a very good example for the boys."

Lee sighed and said, "So, we what, just pretend that we're not attracted to each other, pretend that we haven't spent hours making love to each other?"

"No, we've done more than enough pretending," Amanda said. "All we do in this job is pretend, pretend to be other people, pretend we're not investigating crimes being committed and we've been pretending for over a year that we're _not_ attracted to each other. Besides, i don't think I could pretend that I don't want you anymore, even if I wanted to. The way you make me feel...I...I...It would be so easy to give in to those feelings and allow myself to think that there's something more there. I don't know...maybe there _is_ something more there, but we're never going to figure that out if we can't keep our hands off each other. We can't allow ourselves to get lost in blind passion and confuse it with an epic love, because i can tell you from experience that passion fades and when it does, if you don't have something more there to hang on to, everything else fades along with it. I couldn't stand it if that happened to us, if we discover in all of this that all we have is that passion and when it burns out, we're left with nothing else, not even our friendship. That would break my heart more than anything would. I just think we need to cool things down for a while. Besides that, even with a condom, we could still be taking a risk. They're not 100% foolproof, after all. Then where would we be, we'd not only be hurting ourselves, but may hurting our child too. My boys have been so hurt by the divorce, by their dad not being around, I...I could never intentionally do that to another child."

"Is that it? Are you done? Is your ramble over?"Lee said expectantly. When Amanda nodded, he said. "Okay, I get what you're saying, but I think you're wrong. I think you and I have a hell of a lot more that just blind passion. We've been through a lot together, been there for each other, not just for work-related stuff, but for personal stuff too. You helped me get over Eva; I helped you get over Dan..."

"Dean," Amanda corrected. "Are you ever gonna' get his name right?" She gave him and exasperated look.

"I know his name," Lee said. "I know more about him that you do, I bet."

"Oh? How so?"

"I was the one responsible for your initial background check, remember? That meant I had to investigate everyone that you were associated with at the time, but that's beside the point. Don't you go trying to change the subject on me. The point I was trying to make is that we've been more than co-workers, we've been friends and I'm not someone who has many friends, I'm not someone who easily lets people that close to me, but you, Amanda King..." He paused, rose from his seat, reached for her left hand, fingered the rings there and corrected himself, "...Amanda Stetson, you...you wouldn't put up with me brushing you aside. You just barreled on into my life and..." he paused again linked his fingers with hers. "...and into my heart. What I'm trying to say is that I...I..." he gazed intently into her eyes as he reached up with his free hand to cup her face. "I..."

"Amanda? Lee?" Dotty called through the back door breaking the moment. "Lunch is ready."

Amanda broke the intense eye contact with her husband and said, "We'll be there in a minute, Mother."

Lee released her hand. _Damn it!_ he thought in defeat. "Well, I guess we should...uh..." he gestured toward the back door.

"Yeah, we should," Amanda agreed, disappointment flooding through her at her mother's uncanny ability to choose just the wrong moment to announce that lunch was ready.


	16. Chapter 16

Lee released her hand. _Damn it!_ he thought in defeat. "Well, I guess we should...uh..." he gestured toward the back door.

"Yeah, we should," Amanda agreed, disappointment flooding through her at her mother's uncanny ability to choose just the wrong moment to announce that lunch was ready.

When neither made a move to go inside, Lee's thoughts began to whirl again thinking of how close he'd come to telling her the truth and tried to think of a way how to regain the lost moment. He took a deep breath and decided that if he couldn't tell her how he felt, he was damn sure going to show her. He pulled her into his arms again, his hands sliding to her hips as he pressed against her pushing her back up against the wall of the gazebo and kissed her firmly, pouring his heart into it as he tried to convey in that one kiss everything he felt for her.

Amanda couldn't help but respond to her husband's hungry kiss, her desire for him having been bubbling just beneath the surface since they'd entered the gazebo. She linked her arms around his neck, pulling him in deeper, kissing him back with all the love in her heart, desperately trying to believe that his fervent kisses meant that he might share her feelings. She sighed as she felt his hands slipping inside her coat and under her top to caress her bare skin beneath, relishing the feeling of his touch. For all her talk about cooling things down, she couldn't help her fiery response to him. She supposed she should be freezing in the chill of the January air, but his touch was making her incredibly warm.

Lee pulled back; gasping for breath as he pushed her to a sitting position on the bench beside them, then lowered himself to his knees before grasping the back of her head to pull her in for another kiss, his other hand still exploring the exposed skin of her midriff. He delighted in hearing Amanda sigh in response to him and knowing that she'd relented a little in her stance to cut him off, he became bolder, flicking open the button of her jeans, then slowing lowering the zipper before sliding his hands inside.

"Oh," Amanda cried tearing her lips from his and throwing her head back and closing her eyes against the sensation as his gentle touch further enflamed her desire.

Taking her response as further encouragement, he slid his hands under her bottom slightly to lower her jeans just enough to allow him more access to her, making sure when he lowered her back down that her long coat was between her and the cold bench before lowering his head and flicking his tongue against her already swollen nub.

Amanda bit down on her lower lip to keep from crying out, mindful of the fact that they were outdoors while her husband lapped at her with his very skilled tongue before taking her fully into his mouth and suckling her with his lips and teeth, driving her closer and closer to the edge. Her breathing was becoming labored as she neared her peak. Just as she was about to reach her pinnacle, the sensation abruptly stopped. She opened her eyes to find Lee standing in front of her with a devilish grin on his face.

"Lee, what are you doing? Why did you stop?"She said in frustration at being left wanting.

"Oh, well, I just thought about what you said. You know, about slowing things down and I think you were right. We should cool things off a little," he said as he turned from her and stepped out of the gazebo smiling smugly.

Amanda hastened to straighten her clothing and hurried after him tugging at the back of his coat before he got to the house. He turned to face her. "Oh? Then what the hell was that just about?" she said with a wild gesture toward the gazebo.

"Oh, that. I just lost my head for a minute," he said with a non-committal shrug as he turned from her again.

"Oh, no you don't, Buster," she said as she stepped in front of him to block his path. "You did that on purpose and we both know it."

"Okay, so what? Maybe I just wanted to give you a taste of what you'd be missing," he said with a cocky smile as he pushed past her and into the house to find Dotty setting the kitchen table.

"Oh, there you are. I was wondering what was taking so long," she said with a smile, hoping that the two of them had really talked.

"Oh, Amanda and I were just talking," Lee said flashing her his most charming smile just as Amanda entered through the back door behind him. "If you don't mind, Dotty, I'd like to freshen up a little before we sit down," he said with a mischievous grin at his wife who only glared in response.

"Of course, Lee," Dotty said warmly completely charmed by her charismatic new son-in-law. "I assume you know where to find the facilities," she added with a knowing glance.

"I do, indeed," he said as he quickly trotted up the stairs.

"We're not done talking about this, Mister" Amanda called up the stairs after him while he just continued on his path chuckling in response.

"Talking about what, Dear?"Dotty queried curiously.

"Nothing, Mother,' Amanda said blushing furiously. "It's private."

"Did Lee at least tell you how he feels about you?" her mother asked, hoping that he'd confessed the feelings that were plain as day to her, but somehow had escaped her normally-oh-so-observant daughter's attention.

"Oh, yes, Mother," Amanda said with a frown toward the staircase. "He made his feelings _perfectly_ clear." Clearly, his feelings for her ran no deeper than the explosive chemistry between them. Why else would he have done what he just did and made the comment about what she'd be missing? "You know, Mother, I think I need to freshen up a little myself before we eat." Without giving her mother a chance to respond, she scurried up the stairs to her bedroom and was about to enter the bathroom until she found Lee at the sink splashing water on his face. "What are you doing in here?" she demanded.

Lee raised his head to look at her before reaching for a towel to dry his face. "I'm doing just what I said was going to do. I'm freshening up. I did kind of need it, after all," he said with a wink.

"In here?" Amanda said impatiently. "I thought you were going to use the bathroom in the hall, not my private one."

"I never said that," Lee pointed out. "Besides, I _am_ your husband," He then leaned in close to her and in a low, husky voice said, "and we've shared a _lot _more than a bathroom in the past two days." He nipped at her neck lightly as he reached to cup her bottom, pulling her to him again, "Haven't we?"

Amanda pushed firmly on his chest in an attempt to get him away from her as she was still angry with him, but that turned out to be the wrong thing to do. Lee used her move into the room to his advantage; grasping one wrist while he slammed the door with his free hand, then pushed her up against the door. "Lee, don't," Amanda pleaded, but still unable to deny the desire in her eyes. "I couldn't take if you teased me like that again."

"Who says I want to?"He growled as he lowered his lips to her neck, ravaging the tender skin there causing her to gasp. He paused for a moment, knowing he'd gotten to her, looked her in the eye and said, "What I want is to make love to you, to feel you coming apart in my arms again, hear you screaming out my name until you scream yourself hoarse. I want to feel your sexy long legs wrapped around me while I'm buried deep inside you, fucking you so hard that neither of us can think straight. I want to feel you grabbing my ass the way you did last night, feel you digging your long nails into my skin because you're coming so hard, you're just hanging on for dear life. I want to know that I'm the only man who's ever going to make you feel that way again, the only man to ever touch you again, the only man to make love to you again." He then abruptly released her, reached for the doorknob behind her, flinging the door open, knocking her further into the room. Just before exiting, he fired one last parting shot at her. "But, if you can't guarantee me that that's going to happen, then you're right, we _should _keep our hands to ourselves. The bathroom's all yours now." He then sauntered out of the bathroom, glancing briefly at the neatly-made bed and felt a pang of disappointment at the thought of how much he longed to share it with her on a regular basis. He shook off that nagging thought as she'd made it clear that wasn't going to happen anytime soon and left the room as quickly as he could.

After Lee left, Amanda sighed in frustration, leaning on the counter for support as Lee's seductive words had left her just as hot and bothered as she'd been in the gazebo. _Damn him, _she thought as she turned on the tap, dampening a washcloth and attempted to cool herself off before facing him again. She glanced in the mirror at her flushed face and marveled at how mere words from him could make her temperature rise so much. She shook her head, trying to shake off the unfulfilled longing within her. She ran the cool cloth over the skin of her face before pausing at her neck as she caught sight of the redness there from his recent assault on that tender patch of skin. "That's going to bruise," she said aloud as she moved the cloth there in an attempt to wash away the memory of his searing touch.

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Lee and Amanda were sitting on opposite sides of the kitchen table staring at each other awkwardly while Dotty sat at the end of it encouraging both of them to eat. "So, Lee, tell me a little about yourself," Dotty said once they were all eating.

"There's not really a lot to tell," Lee said awkwardly.

"Well, how long have you worked for IFF?"Dotty asked.

"Eleven years," he answered. "Twelve years this fall."

"That must have been fascinating for you. I mean, if you've traveled in that time as often as Amanda has in just the past year and half, you must have seen a lot."

"It's not really that exciting," Lee said nonchalantly, as he thought that the most excitement he'd ever seen in his life had been in Amanda's arms. She seemed determined to end that part of their life together already which had him completely confused as he knew from the way that she responded to him that she wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her. What bothered him even more was that she seemed even more determined to believe that their marriage was doomed to failure. "I mean, I travelled a lot as a kid, being raised by an uncle who was in the Air Force.' He then gave Amanda a pointed look and said, "These days, I'd much prefer to just be settled somewhere and have a real home for once in my life."

While Amanda shifted nervously in her seat, Dotty smiled pleasantly at Lee, oblivious to her daughter's discomfort as she was solely focused on him. "Well, now that the two of you have had a chance to talk, maybe that will happen," she said optimistically. She then turned to her daughter and said, "Don't you think so, Amanda, Dear?"


End file.
